Seconds to Go
by Cerulean Grace
Summary: Meliodas can't shake the feeling that something is following him. When tragic events unfold that prove his feeling right, he must search for a way to stop the chain of events from happening again and again.
1. A Lingering Dream

" _Well, Jesus Christ, I'm not scared to die,_

 _I'm a little bit scared of what comes after_

 _Do I get the gold chariot?_

 _Do I float through the ceiling?_

 _Do I divide and fall apart?"_

He was falling. But shockingly, it didn't seem he was falling from a great height. There was no wind, no drop in his stomach, no rush in his head. No, he was falling slow. A short fall, one that should have been quick. It was too slow. The world was tilting backwards slightly and he couldn't keep himself rooted to the ground. His lungs wouldn't take in air, his mind wouldn't process thoughts. The world was a blur of grays fading to black, his body too heavy and no longer under his control. He ached to hit the ground and know it was over. He ached everywhere. He was frozen in time and yet time passed slow and he was falling, falling, falling…

Meliodas woke with a jump, immediately sitting up. The blood rushed to his head, spotting his vision black and dizzying him. He blinked a few times, noting outside the bedroom's single window was a night sky. Elizabeth still lay peacefully beside him.

Undoing his ropes easily, he reflected on his dream. He quickly let it go. He'd always been one to have nightmares since thousands of years ago. Years of war and bloodshed and loss gave his dark mind plenty to conjure up in the late night. Falling was one of the lesser horrors, if it could be called a horror at all.

He looked at the clock on his wall, which told him the time and date. Elizabeth had seen it as a sound investment, although he had already possessed a clock previously. This one was nicer, she insisted. He hardly liked to stop her from investing in the finer things in life.

December 21st. 6:03 am. The first day of winter, he noted. The tavern tended to get less busy in the colder regions, such as the one they were passing through now, during the winter months as people liked to stay in more. That, and he also personally hated the cold. He set a mental reminder to start heading south bound.

The time he usually awoke was close, anyways, so starting his day a few minutes early didn't seem too awful. He wondered if he should stir Elizabeth; she was usually up before him by a good hour, a natural morning person. She immediately woke up smiling like the sun, cheerful and bouncing. Meliodas appreciated her enthusiasm, though he couldn't imitate it. It usually took him a good hour in the morning to fully awaken.

He decided against waking her. She seemed too peaceful. Peaceful was a good expression for her.

* * *

"You're up early today, Captain," Merlin commented with her usual smirk.

"Do you ever sleep at all, Merlin?"

"Hardly. There are too few hours in a day," she replied, as if she had fully predicted his question.

He smirked back in return. Merlin was a mysterious enigma, but one of his most trustworthy comrades. He was glad she had returned to the Sins.

"Where are we heading today?" asked Ban, exiting the kitchen with breakfast in tow.

"South," Meliodas answered, but besides that didn't have many details to add. Since the return of the Ten Commandments, the Sins were on a journey for information. There was no way to combat them in the state they were in, so Meliodas was making sure they first scouted for their motives and information on their scattered whereabouts before the destined confrontation. He needed to know if there was more on their mind than world domination, not that he expected there to be; the demons were pretty straightforward in their plans.

Merlin unfolded an aged map, pointing to their location and dragging her finger downwards as Ban looked over her shoulder. "South can be anywhere. We are nearly at the Northern tip of Britannia. We can stop at Dorningham for supplies since it's less than a mile south from here, but as for travelling in the long term, we'll need a more particular route."

"Why not head all the way down to Camelot, see how things are holding up?" Ban suggested.

"I guess we _could_ just go straight down the center, hit a few stops along the way," Meliodas speculated, staring at the map with narrowed eyes. Until the Commandments began to act, there was nothing to do but reflect and wait.

He couldn't help but have a bad feeling about the plan, though. He also had a bad feeling about where they were right now. All around, he had been rather wary since waking up. He thought back to his dream again.

The trio closed the map as the rest of the tavern began to awaken, first joined by Gowther, then King and Diane. It was another seemingly normal morning in the Boar's Hat, but Meliodas still couldn't shake the feeling that something was _off._ He needed to get out of here, get some air, clear his head.

"Well," he said, clapping his hands together in his normal, light-hearted way, "I'll be heading to town to get some ingredients for tonight. It'll be our last day open for a week or so, so everyone get ready to make some money."

"Shouldn't _I_ be the one getting the ingredients, since I'm the only one who knows how to cook?" Ban sighed.

Meliodas only replied by flicking his forehead, which Ban cursed at in reply. After a few goodbyes, he was off to the town of Dorningham.

It was frigid outside, the sky gray and cloudy, an upcoming storm in the distance. The wind bit his face, and the streets were mostly clear of lingering villagers, everyone wanting to get out of the harsh cold. For once, he was enjoying the freezing air. It helped him focus. He stopped in a few stores, grabbing some food for the tavern, but he couldn't help but feel a bit paranoid within the town. Something was definitely wrong, either with this place or himself. He couldn't focus on the stores or who was selling him what. A few storekeepers tried to make conversation with him, but he couldn't get out more than a few words. Finally, he decided it was best to just return to the Boar's Hat. Hours had passed, and being away from the tavern obviously wasn't helping his mood.

Meliodas observed the Boar's Hat upon his return. Hawk Mama had buried herself under the frost covered ground, leaving just his tavern, smoke coming from the chimney, looking as usual as ever. Was anything off? Not that he could tell. Maybe he was losing it.

"Lord Meliodas!" a voice called from behind him. He immediately felt warmth spread through his cool skin.

"Elizabeth? What are you doing out here, especially in this weather!" He was happy to note she had managed to find a jacket. It was the first time he was glad she wasn't in her skimpy tavern uniform.

"Well, you see," she hesitated for a moment, and he observed her curiously. Elizabeth wore her emotions obviously, from her flustered blushing to her heartbroken sobs. He could easily observe that she seemed to be hiding something.

"I just..." she continued, "something just felt right about going into the woods today!" She gestured to the barren forest a hundred feet away from the tavern.

He had to have been looking at her like she had grown another head. "You went into the woods? By yourself?"

"Well, yes!"

"In this weather, which is nearly below zero?"

"Well... yes?"

"Just because? It felt like the right thing to do?"

"Um..." She hesitated again before nodding.

He smiled largely at her before poking her in the forehead, leading her to blush. "You are too adventurous for your own good."

She smiled warmly at him, "Well, Lord Meliodas, if I had not wanted to adventure, I never would have found you."

"I don't know if going after a group of criminals could be considered a good thing" he joked.

"Oh Lord Meliodas," she exclaimed with a serious expression, "it was the best thing that ever happened to me."

He smiled at her compliment. After a second in the serious atmosphere, he gave her curvy bottom a firm squeeze, "Yeah, the best thing to happen to me as well!"

Her face turned crimson, a heavy contrast to their surroundings. The land was snow covered and barren. If not for her blush, Elizabeth's silver and pale and blue would blend right in.

"W-we should really go inside!" Elizabeth spluttered, trying to recompose herself.

"Mm sure," he agreed, "but Elizabeth..."

"Yes?"

"I'm serious, don't go out there alone," he made his expression and tone match the seriousness in which he felt, "I need to protect you."

He could only imagine the devastation of her getting lost or hurt out here in the cold. One of the main reasons he had decided it was okay for her to join the Sins while the Commandments were on the loose was because if they had threatened Liones while he was away, there was no telling what could have happened to her. The thought kept him up at night; the safest place for her, he hoped, was with him.

"I'll be fine, Lord Meliodas! Please, don't worry about me. I know I don't have what you and the other Sins have - I'm not strong and my magic isn't far along yet - but I don't want you to feel like you are obligated to protect me."

She always mentioned obligation, as if he was being forced to protect her. He wondered if she was as oblivious to his feelings as she seemed. He at least had a sense for hers, even if they didn't discuss them. "You may have been fine today, but it'd be a risk testing it more than once."

"I already have! I went yesterday!" She let the words roll off her tongue, and looked to immediately regret them as soon as she did.

"What!? _Why!?_ "

She shrugged, twiddling with her skirt. "How about we talk about it later tonight?"

He pursed his lips and gave her a nod. He respected her enough to give her time. But he couldn't lie to himself; he was curious.

As they entered the tavern and started preparing for the few guests he was sure they'd have tonight, he found his eyes wandering to the princess more than once. Maybe he should bring up a few other topics tonight as well. Like the real reason he wanted, no _needed_ , to protect her.

* * *

Meliodas wiped down another mug carefully, using more attention than usual. His mind was far from the chatter of the bar, still stuck on his negative premonition. Usually, his bad feelings came with atrocities; but even more frequently, he was able to track the source of these bad senses. If an enemy was flying towards them at high speed, he'd know. A weapon, he could easily track. And yet... he could sense nothing astray coming towards the bar. Nothing wrong with anyone around him. Nothing even slightly unusual. So why did something in him feel so wrong?

"You seem distracted," a soft voice washed over his panicked mind. He was surprised he didn't sense her making her way over here. It just went to show how distracted he was.

He gave Elizabeth his best grin, "Not much for me to do with so many employees. I used to have to handle cooking and serving by myself. But now I have Ban to do the cooking, and of course," he paused, giving her behind a teasing squeeze, enjoying the rose colored flushed that spread through her cheeks, "a beautiful waitress attending the customers."

She blushed deeper at the compliment, before giving him a small, chastising smile. "Two beautiful waitresses!" she corrected, referring to Diane.

"Of course, of course," he agreed good-naturedly. Diane was one of his dearest friends, and he could compliment her for hours, but never in the flirtatious manner he reserved for the Princess.

Elizabeth continued to smile warmly before refocusing, her grin faltering at the corners. "I don't think you answered me fully about the distraction, though. You seemed worried. Is there something on your mind, Lord Meliodas?"

He shrugged, drawing his eyebrows together a bit. She always read him so easily, as much as he tried to mask how he was feeling. He wondered if he was starting to let his emotions slip out a bit more obviously, or she was just getting to know him better and better. Both options were probably not for the best.

"Just a bad feeling today."

"Bad as in... How? Bad as in feeling ill?"

"No, not ill, just..." He shrugged again. He felt more comfortable talking to her than anyone else, but he still felt foolish for having such a bad feeling without any source.

He looked from the mug in his hands over at her out of the corner of his eye. She was observing him thoughtfully, leaned against the bar. One wide, blue eye giving him her full attention. She didn't seem to think he was foolish at all.

There was a familiar feeling that surged through his chest when he looked at Elizabeth in moments like this. Random moments of quietness or beauty or conversation. When he watched her peaceful in her sleep, when she smiled at him genuinely, when she got the determined look in her eye for her cause. This feeling wasn't an unfamiliar or indescribable feeling. It was just one he was too afraid to focus on after the last time it had absorbed his life and ended as it had.

"You know," she interrupted his thoughts again, her voice even softer, but something he was able to hone in on in the overlapping loudness of the tavern, "you can talk to me, Lord Meliodas. I know there's many things I probably don't understand or know like you or the others do, however I-"

"You?"

"I..." She was biting on her lip. Meliodas knew that meant she had something to say but she was unwilling to speak it out loud. Overthinking her words. "I _care_ about you," she settled on, "and I'm willing to listen."

The corner of his mouth turned up. They both had a lot of unspoken words between the other. He'd have to breach the subject soon.

He decided he couldn't turn down her request after her honesty. "I'm not ill," he began, leaning against the bar as well, "I had a... well, I always have... dreams. Darker dreams." He glanced at her, but the news didn't seem to surprise her. I guess your sleeping habits became transparent to someone after sharing a bed for so long. "But most of the time they relate to the past," this seemed to grab her attention, but he wasn't going to elaborate any further on _that_ subject. "But this one was just simple. Just dark and it felt like, I don't know. Dying?" he ventured. Obviously he'd never _died_ before, but he'd imagined the feelings were similar.

She nodded solemnly, pursing her lips in thoughtful concentration.

"So you're upset over the dream? Well, nightmare?"

"No, no, I can handle a few nightmares!" He confidently flexed, shooting her a cocky smile to her giggling amusement.

He faltered again, however, as he continued, "it's just, I never quite woke up from the bad feeling, I guess. All day I've just gotten, I don't know? The feeling something bad is going to happen, but no reason to believe something will."

"How strange..."

"I know, doesn't make much sense! But-"

"No, no. I'm not saying you're strange. I'm just saying it's strange you are feeling that way when, well," her eyes narrowed as she focused on her twiddling hands, "I've had the same strange feeling all day."

His eyes widened a bit. Both of them? He went from over-analyzing his thoughts to now emphasizing his fear. But Elizabeth and him didn't normally have the same sense: she didn't have a sense for power at all.

"But," his eyes snapped up to her as she continued speaking, refocusing, "Lord Meliodas, I find that I'm not afraid. If bad things are to come, let them. I believe we can get through any challenge together, all of us. I do," she gave him another small smile, but her eyes were filled with a fiery genuineness that left him in awe.

She placed a reassuring hand on his cheek and his body focused all his senses on it. He felt numb everywhere else. When had she become so bold? After she had unlocked her power? After he had confessed to her injured body that he was practically living for her sake? She tilted her head to the side "Whatever the future holds, I'm glad I'm here right now, in this moment, with you."

He blinked, running this moment through his head on repeat multiple times, trying to form a coherent sentence. He was normally smoother than this but she had caught him off guard, on top of his paranoia all day. What an emotional wreck.

She giggled again; he must have had quite a look on his face. Her laughter sent warmth from his heart to the tips of his fingers and toes. He tried to find a proper comparison: it was like music, wind chimes on a clear day.

He wish he could enjoy it more thoroughly. But there was still a biting shadow in the back of his head.

"Elizabeth..."

"Yes, Lord Meliodas?" She sounded excited, and a bit nervous. What was she expecting him to say?

He hesitated, before posing the question he had thought earlier today, "Why did you go into the woods? I don't think you just had a feeling."

Her hand dropped from the side of his face, her expression dropping as well. She looked a combination of shocked and disappointed, and then more nervous.

"You know you can tell me things too, Elizabeth. I thought you knew that."

"I _do_ know that! I do."

"But you won't-" and that's when he felt it. Right in the middle of his sentence. An overwhelming power, close to here. Chills ran up his spine, a weight like gravity leaning down on his shoulders. A part of his head throbbed. He knew this feeling. He'd felt it during a number of attacks through his long life

"I won't…?" Elizabeth was looking at him in concern.

He shook his head, trying to remain calm. "Stay here and watch the tavern."

"What? Where are you going?"

He ignored her temporarily, calling out for King and Diane. Gowther was already getting up from the other side of the tavern.

"Ban, let's go," he said, swinging open the kitchen door. Hawk was gathering scraps from the floor as Ban cooked away.

"Where are we going, Captain?" King questioned, immediately preparing for the worst.

"Can none of you _feel_ that?" Meliodas exasperated.

"Feel what?" Ban took off his apron, turning off the stove.

"Feel-" Meliodas threw his hands in the air, lacking words. How was he supposed to describe this?! Was he the only one with sense?!

"We're leaving, Captain?" Merlin called down the stairs.

"Yes! Just need to check something outside I have a bad feeling about. Be ready."

"Lord Meliodas!" Elizabeth grabbed his shoulder from behind, "I don't understand, what's wrong?"

He smiled at her reassuringly, "Nothing, I'm sure. Just need to take the Sins out to check on something. Please, stay here."

"I should really come-"

"No, Elizabeth," he said with a bit more force than he meant to, "you shouldn't."

She blinked a few times, and he wanted to comfort her and the hurt look that crossed her face. He never meant to hurt her. He just needed her to understand. He never wanted to leave her behind, he just wanted her to be safe; was that so hard to comprehend?

He pursed his lips, trying to think of something to say to make her feel better, but nothing came to mind. He decided he'd make it up to her later. For now, he had to go.

Six of the Seven Deadly Sins made their way outside the tavern. Five out of six were asking their captain plenty of curious questions, all of which the captain temporarily ignored.

Meliodas was too focused. Where was it coming from? Where? The answer came to him immediately. The woods. He should have figured.

He quickened his pace, the other sins following farther behind as he sped, still conversing their curiosity. They could catch up. He needed to know, needed to see. He needed to confirm that he wasn't insane, that this feeling that had lingered with him all day had a reason.

The tree line was only a few feet away now. The Sins were farther behind.

He never made it there.

He felt the pain before he saw it. He saw the blood before he saw the weapon.

Seven in his torso, piercing each of his hearts. A few in his legs, making him collapse to the ground. One had scraped right above his left eye, pouring blood into his vision. They had made it all the way through his body. Surely, they must be poking out through his back. But no, there was no visible weapon. Just the remnants of something that had been there for a moment, and had left him like this. Briefly, in the shock, he thought maybe they had been made of a bright light.

He fell back into the iced earth. The warmth of his blood steamed the snow around him. He heard the Sins shouting as they approached the area, but he couldn't make out what was happening. Too much shock. They were past him in a moment, at the tree line. He noted someone trying to help him, but immediately having to protect himself from an attack, quickly leaving his side. It was too dark.

As the pain coated his body, the blood pooling from him, the shock subsided and he came to the realization. He was going to die. Actually die. And he wouldn't even know why. Minutes ago everything had been normal, and now he was here on the ground. Dying.

He wasn't ready to die yet. He'd been willing to sacrifice himself a million times for a number of causes. Most of them had been for Elizabeth. If he knew he'd be dying for her, he'd go in an instant. But if not for her, than for what? He had too much to live for. Too much uncompleted. He needed to tell her everything. How he'd known her for thousands of years. How he wished, the moment she had entered his tavern, he could have had her right there, but he had stopped himself. How he knew he'd love her this time as he had the others, but he'd hesitated because he was afraid of how her affiliation with him would affect her life for the worst. How he'd tried to convince himself he didn't need to fall in love with her, and yet her actions had drawn him in. How he'd fallen in love with every determined look in her eyes, every sacrifice she'd make, every blush of her cheeks, every morning when he saw her asleep. How much he _loved her._ How he had whispered nothing but the truth when he told her he was _living_ for _her._ How he'd been foolish, so foolish, for not telling her so long ago.

He wanted her to know, _needed_ her to know, with every fiber of his being. He'd thought he would've had more time. He'd procrastinated it like it was nothing. He had let the days, the joyful, carefree days, slip through his fingers.

And now, it was too late.

The barrages must have been focusing elsewhere, because he heard the sins shouting in the distance. He wondered if they'd make it. He could only hope they did. He hoped the enemy wasn't too tough, now that they were on guard.

He was brought back to his physical distress as he had a fit of coughs. He felt the blood welling up his throat, choking on it. He tried his best to cough up as much as possible, but knew it was futile. All his hearts were pierced. Most were not functioning at this point, and those that were still in service were failing rapidly. His entire torso was in a maddening, throbbing pain. He couldn't feel the lower half of his body at all, nor his arms. With the suffocating obstacles in his throat, speech and breathing were both being lost. His vision was blurry, his thoughts becoming more hazy.

He thought about how easy it would be to just close his eyes and lean back, give in to the last minute. His pride would not let him. His thoughts started focusing on the pain. Physically, dying was probably easy. Living was hard.

The pain was all he thought of until he heard her voice. He prayed to the Goddesses it was some illusion of his mind, giving him the gift of peace: that he was just imagining her voice, and she was somewhere far away, safe.

"Lord Meliodas!" The voice cried. Her voice. It couldn't have been summoned from his mind; he'd never heard it so desperate.

Through sheer will, he turned his head towards the voice. There she was. Long strands of silver whipping around her face as the wind blew. Rose petal cheeks and teary eyes and oh goddesses, she was so beautiful. He should've told her every moment of every day.

There was more noise, farther away. Distress. Diane had cried out King's name. Ban had shouted a little too pained. Were they falling? Was it all going to end like this?

Elizabeth was closer now. Only twenty feet separated them. His throat was too clogged for him to shout anything to her, but he found himself wheezing, choking, trying to tell her anyways. What was he going to say? He was stuck between yelling for her to run far away from her, and yelling for her to come to him.

And that's when it hit. So fast it could have been in the blink of an eye, so slow he swore his world had stopped.

It had come from her side. One hit her temple, another slit right across the bottom of her neck. Others had hit all sorts of places throughout her body. Streams of red like ribbons came from her as she fell over away from the wind.

He was devoid of thoughts, devoid of ability. The ability to move, the ability to breathe, the ability to form coherent thoughts. It wasn't physical anymore. Every molecule of his being was solely trained on her. He knew, without a doubt, he could live forever and never forget the paleness of her body as she lost too much blood, the unfocused emptiness in her half-lidded eyes. He could never forget the red as it fell in streams. He could never forget the moment when life left her. When she ceased being Elizabeth and became a corpse.

His injuries meant nothing to him. Any bloody fight he'd had, every limb he'd lost, any close call to death he'd encountered was not like this. He'd never felt closer to death than he did right now, watching her fall.

Looking at her, he realized the irrefutable truth; death didn't happen to your body, it happened to your soul.

* * *

Meliodas sat up with a gasp, choking on oxygen and working up a scream. His body was coated in sweat, but uninjured. His vision was spotted black, his entire body shaking heavily.

He immediately looked around, taking in his bearings. His room. The Boar's Hat. There she was, next to him, sleeping peacefully.

As he shook her awake, needing to make sure she was truly safe, he looked at the clock on the wall.

December 21st. 6:03 am.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** This story's concept has been my child for years. Before I knew what the Seven Deadly Sins was, I planned on having it used for another fandom. However, it fits incredibly well with this fandom's world. I hope if this chapter interested you at all, you will stick with me. I have a lot planned for the future, and I hope you will forgive that it needed to start sorta slow.

Thank you to Lickitysplit. I will probably thank this wonderful user in every chapter. The most wonderful member of this fandom I've met, who has put up with my screaming online, my 3 a.m. editing needs, and my convoluted wording of concepts going on in my wreck of a brain.

The beginning quote is from the song "Jesus Christ" by Brand New. Lickity told me lyrics were not their cup of tea but unfortunately I'm trash.

Thank you for reading. Any feedback whatsoever is appreciate. This will be my first multichapter fic ever, and even a review that says "this sucks" is completely useful to me. I really have no idea where interest for this will be. Thanks again!


	2. Repetitive Denial

AN: I'll be replying to reviews in chapter for now on just because it makes things easier to keep track of!

Kamira: I know we've talked about this, but I've never watched Groundhog's Day before this! The more you know! But always loving your support, thank you!

BettyBest2: Hopefully more things become clear soon! Though I barely know whats going on half the time so :,)! Glad you enjoy!

Peacerockgirl123: Thank you so so much! That means a ton! No one has said it sucks yet (knock on wood), though some seem a bit wary of the concept!

Lickitysplit: I love you

CaptainTwiggy0918: Yes I've been getting the Groundhog's Day comparison, though I didn't know about the movie. I got the "groundhog day" time loop thing from a different novel I read a few years ago. I'm glad you liked the despair as well! I like to pile on the emotions without piling on TOO much. I hope I found the right balance!

Fullmetal Pyromaniac: Thank you! Hope you continue to enjoy!

Hinurans'girlychick66: Ahh thank you 3. You are too nice.

Cherrygirl107: I am glad you are liking it! No spoilers to the ending, though I already have the gist in mind :).

AshfurxScourge: Good point! I wrote and published this before it was said that Meliodas can't die, so I had no idea. However, as this is a fanfiction, there are a lot of details that will not match up to the manga. It's all creativity.

SirensEye91: We can be trash together. Thank you so much lovely!

Nikki: Glad you are enjoying! I hope you continue to enjoy the concept 3.

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Repetitive Denial**

" _And I wish for one more day to give my love and repay debts,_

 _But the morning finds our bodies washed up thirty miles west."_

"M-Meliodas," her voice is groggy with sleep, words slurring into each other, "what's goin' on?" Her eyelids are still just fluttering open, and Meliodas feels his hearts straining against his chest. His breaths come out as gasps, having broken out of sleep near seconds ago. Pure adrenaline pushed him to check if she was awake, _alive._

"Elizabeth, what day is it?"

She yawns, pressing her face back into the pillow and muffling her voice, "I don't know, Tuesday?"

"No! I mean-" he gives up. Thoughts flood through his brain, and the more he thinks about it rationally, the more apparent it became that he was losing it. A nightmare. _Again_. Though truly, he had never had one more vivid than that. He remembered feeling the pain, could have sworn he had felt the cold.

Elizabeth turns to face him, now a bit more conscious. The look in her eyes hints that she has realized something was wrong. He tries to smile and look calm, but knows he is failing. Probably able to deceive anyone else, but not her.

He looked at her now, warm skin and beating heart and beautiful eyes. Letting the image wash over his blood-soaked dream, he absorbed her appearance eagerly.

Maybe his dream was trying to teach him a lesson. Tell him that he had to live in the moment a bit. He was hyper aware of her existence right now, how they wasted so many hours avoiding confessing their feelings to each other. He could tell her the truth, right now, under the covers of their shared bed on this early December morning.

But she's groggy and looking at him with nervous eyes and the sun hasn't risen, and the timing seems all wrong. And for the thousandth time, he decides this time isn't the right one.

"Want to head downstairs? Get some breakfast? Ban is probably up already," he notes.

She purses her lips, her eyes still tired, "You seemed like something was wrong waking up. Was it another nightmare?"

"Kinda, I guess," he doesn't want to talk about it, truly. How does he tell her what it felt like, watching streams of her blood fall into the snow? Even as the thought ran through his head, he cringed.

"Well, would you like to talk about it? I'm here to listen to you, if you'd like," she spoke, her voice gentle and shy.

Trying to look unaffected, he smiles again, "you can go back to sleep, I'm sorry for waking you up."

Looking disappointed, she sighs; he knows she is looking for him to open up more. She buries her face back into the pillow, and he makes his way downstairs, hoping the day goes a lot better than his dream had.

oOoOoOo

"You're up early today, Captain."

Merlin's voice sends chill up his body. Deja vu? No, as he stepped down the stairs, he knew this had happened before early in his... nightmare.

"Captain?" Merlin questions, "You look like you've seen a ghost," she joked, always lighthearted.

Meliodas laughed, taking the last few steps down to the first floor. How foolish of him to react like that. How abnormal was it for someone to note him being awake several hours earlier than usual, especially the ever-inquisitive Merlin?

He changed the topic, deciding not to coincidentally fall deeper into his dream. "First day of winter today, you'll need to find a warmer outfit. Maybe pants!" He joked.

"Mm, I suppose you're right. Maybe we'll need to find something more concealing for Elizabeth as well! A nice, conservative uniform," she grinned mischeviously.

"Don't joke about something so awful!"

Ban exited the kitchen, plates of breakfast balanced on his hands, an apron tied around his waist, "where are we heading today?"

That... could have been coincidental. Ban asking where they were travelling? The sins were always travelling. So why did Meliodas feel so wary?

Merlin and Ban both looked at him expectedly, Merlin beginning to unfold a familiar map.

"South...?" He let the word slip off his tongue. He knew that was the correct response. The commandments were on the loose, causing chaos in their wake.

Merlin pointed at the map thoughtfully, letting her finger drag down the yellowed paper, "South can be anywhere," she began.

Meliodas blocked out her voice. He heard his pulse beat in his ears, his heart beating a bit too fast. There was nothing wrong, he convinced himself. Ban was now suggesting they head towards Camelot. It was all a little bit familiar and reminiscent, and Meliodas was desperately trying to calm himself, convince himself to stop being so paranoid, to persuade himself to stop feeling the anxiety that was running through his veins.

"I'm going to go check on Elizabeth," he interrupted the two conversing Sins.

Both stopped their familiar conversation, Merlin's eyes filled with curiosity, Ban's filled with suspicion.

"You were just up there a few minutes ago Captain," Ban teased, "afraid your woman is sneaking other men up there through the window?"

Meliodas ignored the light jab, already halfway up the staircase. There: he had changed things from his dream already.

oOoOoOo

When Elizabeth looked to still be resting, Meliodas made his way back downstairs. All of the Sins were now awake, going about their daily routines. The morning had officially begun.

"Captain," Ban commented, "I gotta go out to the town if we expect to be able to eat this week. We are low on just about everything."

"Does the town even _have_ food?" Diane questioned, adjusting her waitressing uniform in a long mirror, "it's _so_ cold out! I can't believe crops are growing around here."

"First day of winter," King noted, drifting around the tavern lazily.

Meliodas took the whole group's presence in. Last night, his mind had conjured up their brutal deaths, and he gave himself a moment to appreciate the normalcy.

"What even is the nearest town? I thought we had just settled down in the middle of the tundra," Diane mumbled. She had never been one to like the cold. None of them did. But their quest had taken them so far north; only now that they had hit a dead end could they turn back around.

"Not the tundra!" Gowther pointed out, one finger in the air, "the tundra biome is known to have hindered vegetative growth! A forest as thick as the one surrounding us would never grow in such conditions."

Diane wrinkled her nose, displeased with the answer.

"Well thanks Gowther, that's just great," Ban drawled sarcastically, "but whatever _biome_ we're in, we need food to _survive_ in it. Maybe some ale too, eh, Captain?"

Meliodas smirked at that; he could use a drink right now, even in the early morning. "Right, I'll go."

"Eh? You? I'm the one who cooks around here. Do you even know what goes into edible food?" Meliodas faltered again under the familiarity. Hadn't they just had this conversation? Of course, it was a recurring conversation throughout Ban cooking at the Boar's Hat. He must've been remembering a similar time.

"Well, I'm the one with the gold! So I'll be doing the buying!" Meliodas joked.

As he put on another layer, Elizabeth made her way down the staircase. Her cheeks were flushed, and Meliodas noted she looked nervous and awake.

"Good morning, Elizabeth. Sleep well?" he probed.

She jumped, as if she had not seen him a few steps in front of her. "Oh m-me? Yes! I mean, good morning! And yes, I slept fine! T-thanks!"

Definitely something off. Elizabeth was a somewhat nervous person around him, but they had fallen into a more comfortable routine. After Hendrickson's defeat, she had grown more confident and bold, much to Meliodas's pleasure. Her behavior right now may have been natural months ago, and even still seem so to the other Sins, but Meliodas knew better.

Wanting to immediately eliminate the mystery, Meliodas figured talking to her was the best answer.

"I was about to go get some things from the town, would you like to come with me?"

She looked down, a thumb circling around the opposite hand, "which town is it?"

"Dorningham" Meliodas and Merlin spoke at the same time, her from a few paces away. Merlin caught Meliodas's gaze questioningly.

"I don't remember you checking the map, Captain. How did you know Dorningham was nearby?"

"Didn't you..." Meliodas stopped, thinking back at the morning. How did he know? They'd only been stopped here for a day, and he hadn't gone out yet. "Didn't you tell me earlier?"

Merlin shook her head, eyebrows furrowed.

Meliodas chose to again shrug it off, "I don't know, must have glanced at the map or something. Maybe I've been here before."

Merlin didn't seem to believe him, but returned to what she was doing anyways.

"So, what do you say, Elizabeth?" he turned back to the distracted silverette.

He tried to read her reaction. She seemed to be hesitating, as if she wanted to say yes.

"I mean," she slowly begins, "that sounds so nice! But, I was actually going to go somewhere else today."

"Where?"

"Oh! Where?" she looks hung up on the question. He wonders if she is aware how obvious of a liar she is. She must be. "Well, I wanted to get some winter clothes!"

"I can take you to get winter clothes."

"It's really fine, Lord Meliodas, I don't want to bother-"

"It wouldn't bother me."

Elizabeth smiles at thought, but continues to play with her hands, biting the inside of her cheek. Something in her expression looks conflicted, like she wants to immediately both outright accept and reject to his proposal.

"I'd like to go alone," she smiles sadly at him, finally making direct eye contact. Her voice is soft, as if she is trying her best not to hurt his feelings.

His eyebrows shoot up worriedly as he purses his lips, hesitating. Immediately shaking off his expression to something more indifferent, he nodded.

oOoOo

Meliodas had made his way through town distractedly. He wasn't focused on the familiarity of it all anymore, though the thought did linger in the back of his conscious. Now, his focus revolved around Elizabeth. She was a woman who wore her emotions on her sleeve, much to his delight. It made her easy to figure out. Today, however, she had been out of character: he didn't presume to know all of her feelings for him, but he could speculate that she usually didn't pass up on opportunities to spend time alone with him.

On the other hand, he didn't enjoy missing opportunities to spend time alone with her either. The rejection had stung.

But he still wasn't sure that her rejection had stemmed from not wanting to spend time with him. Elizabeth had a secret. As he walked down the path back towards the Boar's Hat, he tried to speculate just what the secret was.

"Lord Meliodas?"

He felt the warmth spread under his skin, and with it the deja vu. Elizabeth's sweet voice floated through him sweetly, but unlike most times, his name on her lips was bittersweet. Last night, he had dreamed he'd been standing right in this spot when she had called out to him. His heart skipped a beat in his chest.

As a frigid wind blew, Elizabeth bundled in her jacket, the snow glistening on her lashes. Not for the first time today, he absorbed the sight of her, with the rose coloring covering her cheeks and nose, her silver hair blowing gently in the harshening winds.

The details he'd noticed right now, the same that he'd noticed in his dream.

 _Was it a dream?_ A bead of sweat rolled down his temple as he looked at her.

"Elizabeth, were you heading home from town?" The full weight of the cold has settled on him, and he feels goosebumps for the first time in a long time.

"Oh? Oh! Yes, I was!" she stammered.

"I'm surprised I didn't see you," he slowly pondered. It was a small town, mostly empty due to the frightening weather, "you didn't find any more winter clothes?"

She hesitated for a second. Perhaps she hadn't remembered the story she had made up earlier today until he gently reminded her. "No, I suppose I didn't see anything I liked that much... I'll look again tomorrow."

The awkwardness of it all nearly suffocated him. This _was_ awkward, wasn't it? Her lies were so obviously fabricated, he'd be shocked if she didn't realize.

"Elizabeth," he ventured, "you know you can trust me, right?"

"Oh, of course I do," she sighed wistfully, "I've trusted you since the very beginning, Lord Meliodas. I would trust you with my life."

A smile spread on his face at her genuine response. "Then be honest with me!"

"W-what do you mean?!"

"You've been acting strange all day!" he pointed a finger close to her face, leaning in close to her, "don't you think after this much time I don't know how obvious you are."

His smile turned into a smirk as the shades of pink spread beneath her cheeks. Thousands of blushes later and they still endeared him.

"I-I don't think it's important to talk about yet," she confesses.

"Talk about what," he pushes.

She smiles shyly, a hint of joking to her expression, and he keeps pace with her as she makes her way down the path to the Boat's Hat, "f-fine!" she huffs, red patches on her neck, " I'll tell you some details, if you tell me about your dream last night."

There she was; still nervous and stuttering, but she was the teasing, bold Elizabeth he had come to know. "I already told you there was nothing to talk about."

Her eyes drop again as he responds, obviously disappointed. Her joking demeanor fades.

"Mm," she sighs, "I know you're lying. You always wake up distressed after nightmares, if only for a moment."

Goddesses, sharing a bed with this woman was both a joy and a curse. "You caught me! But I don't think it's much worth sharing."

The time had passed quickly, because the Boar's Hat was in plain sight now. Elizabeth pursed her lips, eyebrows lowered in thought. "I had a nightmare, too."

"Really? What about?"

She turns to meet his eyes with a small, sad smile, "I don't think it's much worth sharing, either."

oOoOo

By the time the Boar Hat had reached its last customers for the evening, Meliodas was feeling downright paranoid. An overall bad feeling mixed with deja vu combined with Elizabeth. He eyed her from across the bar as she took an order from a group of locals.

Focusing back on the mug he had been wiping down for much too long, he thought about his interactions with the princess today thus far. He wondered what her nightmare had been like. He knew he'd have to trust her with his details if he wanted the same courtesy, but he felt foolish at the idea. What was he supposed to tell her? He was paranoid over a dream about casual events that had kinda happened today? That he had been a mess all day over his subconscious showing him her death in vivid detail?

His dream had been a bit too predictive for his liking thus far, as much as he hated to admit it. It didn't help that he knew what had happened in about an hour, according to his dream. He shook his head quickly again; why was he so hung up on this!

"You seem distracted," a soft voice washed over him. But instead of the comfort he had expected, he felt goosebumps run through him.

Pushing past the awful gut feeling, he tried his best to smile at her. "It's been a long day!"

"I know you've been off today, Lord Meliodas," she looked down at her hands in her skirt as she leaned on the bar next to him, all so familiar, "we both have. But I just wanted you to know-"

"I know I can talk to you, Elizabeth," He cut her off, his words sharp, but he's just not able to bare the repetition anymore. The dread of the dream had weighed him down all day, and the slight repetitions seemed to be mocking him. The frustration was simmering under his skin, blended with the fear.

She jumped back a bit, a look of hurt flicking over her face before she nodded. "R-right, I'm sorry, I just..."

"No, Elizabeth, that wasn't what-" he realized his mistake too late.

"If you'll excuse me, Lord Meliodas," and she had turned and walked out of the bar before he could compile his thoughts and regrets into a coherent sentence.

As he made his way across the tavern towards the door, he felt it again. Gravity seemed to intensify as he felt his body freeze, chills running through him. This feeling wasn't only from his fighting experience anymore; it was from last night.

Meliodas came to a realization he had been denying all day; the nightmare hadn't been just a nightmare.

"Captain?" Diane called out to him, returning to the bar to grab an ale from a customer. He rushed passed her. He didn't have time to gather the Sins this time; she was already out there.

He felt the panic swell in his chest, overwhelming him in waves. He didn't know what to do. He had _all day_ to actually analyze his dream, to make changes. Just last night he had thought about when and how he should confess to Elizabeth about his feelings, and now he had made an idiot of himself all day and had genuinely hurt her in this moment that may just be their _last_ moment. He had spent all day in paranoid denial instead of actually _thinking_ about the source of the bad feeling.

Meliodas rushed through the tavern door, into the dark of the night. The light snow had become a storm, and the wind immediately bit at his exposed skin.

"Elizabeth!" he shouted, his voice rising in panic. No response. He couldn't predict this far. In his dream, he had left her in the tavern. Only later had she found him by-.

By the forest.

He hadn't even bothered to mention it today. How had he not bothered to mention it?! How had he become so sidetracked in their conversations that he hadn't confronted her about her side trip.

Through clenched teeth he let out a frustrated grunt, beating himself up mentally. What a complete waste of a second chance. He had completely blown every aspect of it. It would end up being worse than his nightmare - no, his first attempt of this awful day - if he didn't manage to change it from this point on.

His anger melted back into wide-eyed panic as he remembered how things had happened in the end.

"Elizabeth!" he called as loud as he could, his desperation coming through full force. His chest heaved as he sprinted towards the edge of the forest, where he just knew she'd appear.

He didn't want to be right, but he was nonetheless.

Meliodas reached Elizabeth's running form a few feet from the edge of the forest. She stumbled out of the tree line, looking a bit scratched up but otherwise fine. Both hands on her knees as she caught her breath, he noticed tears forming in her beautiful blue eyes. He quickly gripped her arm, pulling her into his chest.

"I'm sorry, Meliodas, I'm so sorry," she sobbed into his chest. Shocked by not only her apology, which he was preparing to give himself, but also by her tears, he held her close, breathing in her hair.

"Elizabeth, n-no, why are you?" he stumbled on his rushed words, "what's wrong? What happened?"

"I-I made a mistake Meliodas," she stuttered out through her cries.

"What mistake? Elizabeth? Talk to me."

But she was incoherent, unable to speak as she cried into him. He panicked as he knew they needed to get far, far away from here.

"I'm sorry," she cried in a quiet, broken voice, "I love you."

His entire being stumbled under the weight of her words. He had imagined them a million times coming from her, in a million scenarios, but not in a moment like this. This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

"Elizabeth..." where did be begin? Did he spend the remaining time running or was that inevitable?

His mind was racing too quickly, and yet his body was frozen in place. He stroked the back of her sobbing head, his blanks eyes staring at the dark tree line. He looked back down, burying his face back into her hair; only then did he notice how much he was shaking.

Her sobs turned into a choke, and then he felt it; warmth spreading under his hands, warm and wet. His eyes opened to darkness and red, her body throbbing in his arms. Only after he had let the vision of her bleeding drown him did he note, insignificantly, that he too had been cut.

He had failed completely. Last attempt he had noted that he wasn't ready to die. He still wasn't. He had waited too many years to finally be with Elizabeth in a peaceful time; maybe he had wanted to die before, but not anymore. He needed one lifetime with her that didn't end in tragedy. They had barely begun.

As he looked at her body, draining of the blush that had endeared him a million times, he made a promise. If he woke up tomorrow, at that cursed time on this cursed date, things would be different. No more denial. The sight, the feeling, in his arms right now would be her last time. Tomorrow, she'd live through the day. They both would.

His vision blurred with both blood loss and tears and the world tipped backwards. Everything in his vision faded to dark and as the world faded he felt himself pulled back yet again.

The snow beneath him had turned back into a bed and as he turned his head, he saw it again. December 21st. 6:03 am.

* * *

AN: Thank you for reading. Reviews are immensely appreciated, as is any feedback. Thank you to woundedowl who left a variety of comments on this at 4 am. They, along with lickitysplit, are my saviors. I'm sorry for the delay in update time! I don't plan on updating monthly, it should be more often than that, but this chapter really had me stuck! Thanks again!


	3. Belated Confessions

AN: As always, your reviews mean the actual world to me! Here are some replies and thanks :D

BettyBest2: I figure denial is the first step to these things. And I'm happy to keep you guessing! I'm so glad you enjoy as your opinion means a ton to me :)!

Lickitysplit: I love you

Fullmetal Pyromaniac: I'm super glad you are enjoying! I suppose it it kinda trippy.

Woundedowl: I am now seriously considering Meliodas confessing his love through interpretive dance. Maybe I will confess my love to you via interpretive dance. Food for thought.

Nikki: A lot of really good questions! I plan on answering a lot of them, hopefully! Thank you for your thoughtful review.

CaptainTwiggy0918: I'm really glad you approve! And I hope I come around to answering some of your questions and theories over time :).

MarianaBuBuLuBu: You can review in Spanish if you want! I study Spanish at my university and am pretty understanding when it comes to reading it. I hope you don't mind me replying in English, because I am very bad at writing Spanish :,). I'm so glad you enjoyed the story!

Kamira: I'm so sorry I haven't replied to you in forever, I'm hoping you are still around! I'm glad you are liking the layers, thank you!

Sailor Fairy Tale: Glad you are interested :D Thanks!

HuntressXHunter: (Love the name by the way) It is definitely a pretty common trope! Since publishing, I've gotten the Groundhog's Day comparison several times, which I didn't know about. I personally was introduced to it through a novel I read when I was younger, but I'm hoping this story has its own creativity that doesn't just make it a fic filled with rehases of other stories!

* * *

 **Chapter 3:** Belated Confessions

 _"Some men die under the mountain just looking for gold,_

 _Some die looking for a hand to hold"_

Meliodas didn't jolt awake in the morning; he just stared.

6:03 am ticks away, and his clouded eyes absorb her. His body reacts on its own, a shaking hand slowly reaching out to touch her hair without him even realizing. A natural reaction to check, yet again, that she was alive. Soft breaths escape from her gently parted lips as she slept. She was alive. Alive, alive, alive. And at the end of this day, this horrid day that he knew was real, no longer having the opportunity to deny it, she'd be dead.

He didn't know what magical force was dragging him back here, but he had a chance. He didn't have the time to question whether it was a blessing or a curse. All he knew was it had given him a chance.

Another chance.

There was no time to waste. He looks at the clock again. He should've been noting times all through yesterday. The day was mapped in his head, but he could only estimate the times. If he headed downstairs right now, Merlin and Ban would be waiting. The entirety of the day played through his mind, all the way up until the late evening, when the silverette next to him was set to die. His death was there too, he supposed. But that mattered little to him right now.

How did her day go? Besides his brief interactions with her, he had no idea. In the next hour, something changes. He remembers the way she had hid something from him as she had walked down the stairs, rejecting his invitation, so obviously hiding something. Her lies were easy enough to pick up on. Not only was she a blushing, fumbling, conundrum of a liar who completely lacked the ability to hide emotions or even begin to look indifferent, but he had known her too well.

Giving credit where credit was due, she had learned to observe him as well; but he had known her far too long, since her birth, to not know how obviously she was attempting to deceive him. And he could handle a lie or two - they both could have their secrets, that was fair - but she seemed so reluctant to not tell him, as if she had a knife to her throat. That was what bothered him the most; the fact that she seemed to want to share with him, but couldn't. The invisible threat that he was so close to seeing, and yet so far. It made him want to grasp the roots of his hair and yank in agitation, a familiar sensation of dark frustration that had he had buried inside of him from earlier times.

What had happened? If someone had come to the room, he'd have seen them. If he hadn't seen them he'd have sensed them.

He sat up, turning his body to face her, crossing his legs, letting the minutes pass by as he watches her peaceful face sleep, eyebrows furrowed in thought. There would be no repetitive conversation with Merlin and Ban this morning. Who cared what direction they were heading if they were all dead before they got there.

And if he recalled correctly, she had previously had a strange 'dream' of her own. When he had revealed to her his paranoia over his 'nightmare' at the time, she had told him that she too had had a nightmare of her own. But she'd given him no details. However, if she had been repeating days like he had, she should've known what was going on by now. If anyone besides him had realized what was happening, they'd be taking action to prevent it. But besides Elizabeth and him, everyone else was acting as they always had.

Twenty minutes pass. She doesn't look like she was having a nightmare. Normal breaths, her body still. Thirty minutes. Her heartbeat was normal and fine, and he narrowed in on the sound, the gentle beat. He'd never been so grateful to hear a steady pulse, the thudding of her washing through his tensed muscles like a wave. Fifty minutes. Merlin lightly raps on the door, asking which way he wants to head today. Without looking, he told her South, and that he will be down soon. South is the way he'd choose to go if they made it out of this loop, but until then, they never got that far.

One hour, three minutes. He's memorized even the most minute details of Elizabeth's face. The smooth pale complexion of her skin, a glow like moonlight, the stands of silver that gently framed her face. Her button nose, the rose colored lips that begged to be tasted. He'd seen her in many variations and colorings, but the Elizabeth in front of him right now seemed to be hand designed to tempt him. He could've spent years hand selecting every aspect of her, and he wouldn't have known how to make her as perfect as she was. Reflecting on it, he's never seen someone so beautiful in his entire life. And he's been around for a long while.

One hour, seventeen minutes. Her eyes squeeze a bit harder. A small noise escapes her lips, before her teeth dug into her bottom lip. Her body starts rolling, her face breaking out into a bit of a sweat. This is it, he thinks. This is when it happens for her. But when what happens?

Her hands clenched into the blankets, and he could only watch with bated breath. Upon waking her yesterday, she only fell back asleep to have this dream. But he hates seeing her in any type of pain, all his protective instincts honing in and begging him to shake her, to comfort her, to make the pain go away. To fight the enemy he cannot see or understand.

"N-no," she whimpers in her sleep, a voice soft but resisting. Are they dying in her dream, he wonders?

Suddenly, she is thrashing, and it took all his willpower to not wake her and put her out of her misery. His fingers clench, begging to reach out, but he knew there was something here; an aspect of the mystery that he needed to solve. The logical part of his mind won over the instinct, a control only the millennia had given him. While his body stilled, his eyes unblinking as they watched her, his insides churned.

And then she was sitting up, eyes wide and tearing, gasping for air, sweat on her brow.

His face is inches away from hers, and he opens his mouth to begin but can't find the words to say. Now that she is awake, he doesn't know where to begin. Minutes had been spent just staring at her, and he wasn't as regretful over the choice as he probably should have been.

"M-Meliodas," she begins, her voice stuttering for once not due to embarrassment, but because she is catching her breath. He notes it was the first time he heard her use his name without "Lord" in front of it besides 'last night' before the tragedy. Was it the panic that made her forget? It excited and enthused him almost as much as it worried him.

No time to spare, he cuts right to what's important. "What did you dream about?"

"What?" she's flushed now, embarrassed, obviously knowing he'd seen her panicked waking.

"What did you dream about, Elizabeth?" he's surprised that his voice is so calm. A tone that is gentle and pleading, none of the desperation and fear that he feels inside dripping through.

"I-I don't-" she cuts herself off, shaking her head, trying to collect her thoughts. Her breaths are deeper now, trying to calm and collect herself. "It isn't important." Her hands clench and unclench in the thickness of the blanket, her neck patched in blotches of pink.

"It is important," he persists, wishing she could just trust him for one whole minute. She had trusted him before with her kingdom and family, her mission to save the world, her life. So why was is so difficult now for her to trust him with this?

She looks down at her lap, fingers playing nervously with her nightgown, her skin still aglow. Strands of silver hair drape over her face, and his fingers twitch, aching to brush it back. "I think it was just a nightmare, I suppose."

"About what?" He leans closer toward her, needing to know.

"I-I'm not sure, it was all very confusing, I rather not talk about it."

"Can't you remember anything?"

"I just-" she breathes again, trying to collect herself, and as the panic leaves her features she looks tired again, "I really rather not talk about it, Lord Meliodas. I don't persist on knowing your nightmares…" Her voice balanced between a pout and a complaint.

A fair point, but his nightmares were usually about the past or her getting hurt, details he never wanted to converse about. Dreams of his furthest past mostly revolved around the person he used to be; a merciless and focused murderer under the Demon King. Details he didn't want to share with the lighthearted and innocent princess. Passed that time in his life there was only her, in various forms. Yet another conversation he didn't want to have.

"Do we die in your nightmare, Elizabeth?"

She looks up from her lap, stunned, "we?" she asks.

That wasn't the question he expected, "yes, you and I?" he clarifies, his confusion evident.

"N-no. Nothing like that," she looks confused as well now. But death had seemed to have something to do with it. Her face had looked as if she was afraid he had read her mind.

"Do… either of us die?" He slowly asks.

She shakes her head again, nervously, her gaze everywhere but at him, before removing the blanket from her lap, standing from bed. He remained sitting, following her with his eyes. Her hands pull open the room's curtain, letting in the sunrise, her vision lingering out the window as she sighs.

"Elizabeth," he begins again. "I really wish you'd trust me. I would never- I couldn't-," he pauses; the years have taught him to put up an emotional wall with this woman whom he had loved dearly and lost so many times. Who he was possibly going to lose again. The resistance to emotions had been useful in the past for missions and battles, for keeping his standards low before inevitably letting people go. But now, the inability to articulate how he felt was nothing but a habit he wish he didn't naturally fall into. He knew the time for emotional confessions was now more than ever, but his mind jumbled the words in his head, his first impulse to change the subject or make a joke. But he knew there wasn't any time. "Please, talk to me."

She doesn't look back at him, apparently too consumed in the window's glass, and he sighs, deciding to give up on the matter for a bit. They hadn't even left the bedroom yet, he could bother her more after breakfast. If he spread out his inquiries throughout the day, instead of harassing her after the nightmare was fresh on her mind, maybe she'd be more open. He could only hope so.

As he goes to exit the bedroom and leave her to her thoughts, a surprisingly firm hand wraps around his arm. Shocked, he turns to her, and before he can pose a question or assess her face, her lips are on his.

A quick burst of passion, and his mind is blanking; he knows how to kiss but he is so incredibly thrown off by the gesture that all he can do is blush of all things. Her hand grips his arm, the other cupping his cheek; her eyes are softly closed, and his are wide open, too shocked to close, and he tries to etch the look of her face so close to his into his memory and lock it away. Just as he about to lose himself in lips indescribably soft and warm, she is taking a step back. Stunned and mesmerized, he must immediately convince himself that he has a mystery to solve and spending the day kissing her isn't an appropriate plan, but the idea tempts him nonetheless. Expecting her to be a blushing mess, his wide eyes take her in, but besides a slight tint to her cheeks, her eyes are filled with unwavering determination.

"Neither of us die in my dream, Meliodas. I won't allow it," and her voice is so strong and determined that he wondered how he had ever questioned her resolve when she had first walked into his tavern what felt like so long ago. Her determination nearly reassures him, and he can only nod. As her eyes rest on him for a few moments, a small blush creeps onto her cheeks as she seemed to realize what she had done, but before she can turn back into a stammering mess she is quickly walking away.

As she heads out of the bedroom and down the stairs, Meliodas could only blink. Elizabeth was definitely having strange dreams, but they were far different than his own.

oOoOoOoOo

As the Sins and Elizabeth sat down for breakfast, Ban allowing them to finally eat something appetizing, Meliodas remained focused solely on Elizabeth. Elizabeth, meanwhile, focused solely on her plate, and how much food she could push around without eating.

"Don't worry Princess," Ban jokes lightheartedly, "it's my cooking, not Captain's. It's edible."

Elizabeth smiles, strained and polite, the fork tracing circles around her full plate, "Thank you Sir Ban, but I'm just not very hungry this morning."

"Suit yourself!" Hawk galloped around her heels, "More leftovers for me!"

"What's wrong Elizabeth?" Diane questioned worriedly, concern etched on her features, "you've looked upset since this morning." Meliodas sighed at that, sending Diane vibes of luck. But if Elizabeth wasn't fessing up to him, he doubted she was confessing to anyone else.

"Have I?" Elizabeth twisted the fork nervously, letting her hair cover her face, her bottom lip between her teeth, "Maybe it's the weather."

Diane pursed her lips, as disbelieving as Meliodas was, but didn't pursue the matter further.

"Maybe!" King noted, leaning over his plate, oblivious to the Princess's obvious lie, "first day of winter today, you know."

Meliodas felt a slow throb in his temple, the beginning of a headache. The brutal combination of humdrum repetition and trying to figure out the enigma of a silverette sitting next to him.

As everyone finished their meals, Meliodas tried to block out the chatter in his mind, his focus turning strategic. First, he needed to isolate Elizabeth from the rest of the group, but not enough that she went running by herself into the trees. Each Sin left to begin their days, Hawk still trotting around the floor on scrap duty as Ban whistled, stacking plates.

"Captain," Ban interrupts him, sounding exasperated as he carries the stack towards the kitchen, "Someone needs to get food today for the bar."

"Right," Meliodas noted, having expected the remark already, "Elizabeth will come with me, we'll be back before the afternoon." Ban shrugs, heading back into the kitchen, Hawk eagerly following behind. Apparently his sense for a large helping of leftovers outweighed his sense for Meliodas being alone with the princess. He'd need to keep that in mind.

Meliodas glanced over at said princess who had snapped out of her daze.

"What was that?" she questions.

"You and I are going to go to the market today!"

She looks back down conscientiously at her folded hands, biting the inside of her cheek. Meliodas smiles at her, leaning onto his elbow, trying to be some sense of comfort. Knowing fully well how the gears in her head must be turning as she fumbles for an excuse, he patiently lets the seconds tick by.

"W-well, actually, I had thought-"

"Nope!" he quickly cuts off, a brighter grin spreading, "No exceptions. You have to come with me."

"Lord Meliodas," she begins warily, "I'm not really feeling up to shopping today."

"Don't worry," he shoots back, "a little fresh air will do wonders for you. And if you want to go anywhere else, we can stop there as well." Like maybe wild detours through the forest, if that's what spontaneously came through her mind.

Her lips purse as she thinks, and he remembers in agonizing detail the brief kiss. His lighthearted complexion falters as his heart longs for another, and he remembers there may not be much time to secure such a future.

"Elizabeth," he starts again, gentler, "what's in the woods?"

The statement really throws her off, her one wide eye looking at him, "I'm not sure… why do you ask?"

"Would you like to go together?" he pushes.

"To the forest..? I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why?"

"I-I don't know, I guess I would just prefer not to. It's very cold, Lord Meliodas," she tilts her head to the side, observing him, "you've been acting strange all morning."

That makes two of them.

But if she can tell he's acting strange, that means he's let one too many of his worries shows. He lets the bored, indifferent mask cover his face again as he reaches over to her, giving her chest a few squeezes. "Who is acting strange?" he jokes.

A blush forms, but not as dark as usual, and she doesn't squeal or protest as she usually would. Removing his hand, his joking demeanor falters as he realizes that groping her has lost the distracting and lighthearted context, and has sunk into something that could be serious between them. He'd been so focused on escaping the loop, he'd started to lose track of what he had thought about before this all happened. Thoughts that had mainly revolved around her and what they were and where they were going together.

He'd have to get back to that as soon as he got them out of this whole mess alive. But he'd learned a hard lesson from procrastinating before.

"Speaking of acting strange," he smiles, "you kissed me this morning!"

The reminder gets more of an embarrassed reaction out of her than groping. Her hand covers get neck as her entire torso up flushes."I-it felt right in the moment!" Elizabeth had ways of gaining confidence in the moment, until she became too self aware. After she actually realized she'd been bold, she turned into an embarrassed mess; but Meliodas found the trait all the more endearing.

"Mmmm, did it?" he leans closer to the princess teasingly, "what other moments has it felt right?"

She grins, her blush lingering; it was the first time today where she looked like her usual self, as opposed to the paranoid mess the day had made them both. "We will see," she teases back.

For the first time in whatever warped amount of time had passed, he could breathe easily. They'd be okay. She would stay out of the forest, stay here with him where she belonged, and they'd be safe.

oOoOoOo

The air was frigid as always as the duo approached the village nearby. The streets remained abandoned as no one wanted to be exposed to the temperate for any prolonged amount of time. While most stalls and stands were eliminated from the market, there was still a significant amount of walk-in shops. Meliodas had been here enough times now to know the general set up; the plump older man with a thick accent who sold spices, the butcher a few stores down, a younger woman with a shop covered in silks and fabrics.

Snowflakes were caught in Elizabeth's silver lashes as she observed the town, the tips of her features pink with the cold, her breath leaving her lips in a hazy cloud. Her lips. He couldn't help himself: he'd been distracted.

"Where should we begin?" she questioned, looking around at the snow-covered buildings with wonder. He nearly forgot how little her sheltered life had let her see, every small village she saw being a new adventure for her. Meanwhile, he'd seen most of the world through his years and hadn't found much purpose in anything except for her.

"Probably with vegetables and whatnot! Meat is easy enough to hunt ourselves. Crops, meanwhile, aren't as easy," he says easily, making his way besides her down the cobblestone road.

She nods, her fingers tracing the lining of her scarf as Meliodas turns into a small wooden building. An older woman looks shocked to see anyone, but immediately stands upon their arrival, "welcome!"

Meliodas grins easily, already knowing where every ingredient he needs is in the small supply of what is available. Even so, he tries to stay pleasent. "Hi there! What's good to sell right now? We own a tavern a down the road."

"O-oh?" the woman seems confused, "I didn't know there was a tavern in town?"

"We are relatively new," he eyes Elizabeth as she observes the squash, always managing to look so curious.

The shopkeeper nods, accepting his explanation with a bit of confusion. The town wasn't the best setting to start up a new business, particularly in this season. "Are you two a couple?"

A small high-pitched noise escapes Elizabeth's darkening face, and Meliodas jumps on the opportunistic moment, throwing a secure arm around her shoulders with ease. A sly grin slips onto his face, "that easy to tell, huh?"

"M-Meliodas please!"

The woman nods, a kind smile on her face, answering his previous inquiry. "It's cabbage weather. And sprouts. Nothing grows particularly well in the winter," the woman sounds a bit disappointed, "but during the summer! You should stop by again. We are always stocked."

Meliodas was about to tell her that they wouldn't be around long, as he had the previous two days, when Elizabeth cut him off, stepping forward and handing the woman the few cabbages in her arms. "Oh we will be! I'm sure your shop is lovely then. It's very nice now as well."

The woman smiles at her with a light blush, obviously flattered, "You're too kind."

Meliodas grabs Elizabeth's hand, a fresh blush coating her, the couple comment significantly having brightened his mood. "You shouldn't lead people on like that, Elizabeth," he jokingly chastises, "you know we travel often."

"I'm not joking! I like this town, I'd like to come back," Elizabeth says, her distress subsiding and a pleading tone in her voice that allures him greatly, "Something about it just feels… familiar? Doesn't it?"

His lips turn down at her unintentional joke, but as he goes to reply the shopkeeper swiftly cuts him off, having overheard.

"Well, it's probably instinct for you to say so! They say silver-haired humans usually have druid blood in them."

Both Meliodas and Elizabeth turn to her, shocked. "W-what does that have to do with anything?" Elizabeth falters.

"When I was young, my family used to tell me tales of druids travelling to Dorningham," the shopkeeper said thoughtfully, bagging their selected vegetables, "A very isolated group, no one knew why they came, and they didn't interact with the townspeople much. But apparently there was magic in the area, so here they were."

Meliodas can't move or breathe as he runs the knowledge through his head, every muscle taut as a chill runs through him. Elizabeth is frozen as well, her wide blue eye staring blankly at the woman, the hand that wasn't holding his reflexively touching her bangs.

A collage of images flashes through Meliodas's mind. A forest with streams of white light that has slashed him, of blood in snow, of Elizabeth's limp body falling to the ground. No, it didn't make sense. Druids had lost their strength over the years, besides a rare few humans such as Hendrickson. The only ones with a lot of practical background had been Jenna and her company, but they had no ill intentions towards him, on top of being halfway across the continent.

And even so, druids wouldn't attack Elizabeth. She was close to being one of their own, if not even closer to the Goddess clan than most.

"That's just a bit of history," the woman said, eyeing between the two shocked patrons.

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, his free hand grabbing the bag from the woman. "Right," he politely nods, unable to completely hide how shaken he was, "very interesting. Have a nice evening."

His hand pulls Elizabeth from the store out into the frigid air, her body seeming to move without her will. Her expression is dazed, her mind somewhere far from the snow covered town. Meliodas knew he had an opportunity.

"That was interesting, wasn't it?" he tries.

No response.

"Elizabeth," he gives her hand a gentle squeeze, "you don't look well. Is there anything you'd like to talk about?"

The consciousness returns to her eyes, her gaze meeting his. She stares unflinchingly for a few moments, a sentence seeming to be on the tip of her tongue before slowly shaking her head.

He grimaces before nodding; he knew she would come around. He just hoped it wasn't too late by the time she did, and that her being here in front of him instead of running off on her own adventure for the day had stopped whatever dread was to happen. While details of her day were filling themselves in, he couldn't put together what he was supposed to be changing. If he was supposed to be changing anything at all! The staggering helplessness left him desperate: all he could do was guess, try, and hope, and none of that was enough for him.

As he turned back towards the tavern, a gentle hand squeezed his.

oOoOooOooOO

"Expecting a large crowd tonight, Captain?" Diane asked, adjusting the skirt of her uniform in the mirror.

"Maybe. I'm going to need you on your A-game tonight, it's going to be a lot to handle by yourself."

"Alone?" she questioned, her pigtails bouncing, "What do you mean? I have Elizabeth!"

"Elizabeth is taking off tonight," he easily answered, stacking another cleaned mug on top of its shelf, grabbing another to keep his hands busy.

"What?!" Diane demanded, a pout evident as she approached the bar "She can't take off! She's the top waitress! We need two waitresses!"

"Use Gowther," he immediately answered, ready for this fight.

Diane groaned, having expected that disliked answer.

"Don't worry, Diane," King eagerly hovered around her, "I'm sure you'll be the best waitress! The new top waitress! I'll be cheering you on the whole time."

Before Diane could answer, Meliodas had already interrupted, "you won't have time to cheer tonight."

"What? Why? All I do is dishes, and I'm sure Ban can handle them for a bit. Diane needs me!" King pleaded.

"Tonight you're bartending."

"What!? I can't bartend!" King exclaimed, hovering over the bar to get closer to the indifferent captain. Meliodas didn't even meet his panicked eyes, focusing on the crystalline mug in his hand. "Why would I bartend? What will you be doing? You are the owner of this place!"

"I'm also taking off," Meliodas observed the shining glass, rotating it in his hand under the light before putting it on the shelf with the rest.

"What!?" the distraught giant and fairy exclaimed in unison, immediately going to protest.

"Sorry! You all get days off, and tonight we are getting our own," he leaves the bar, heading towards the stairs, "I'm sure you can handle it!" he calls behind him as he heads towards his bedroom, blocking out the loud objections.

He knocks twice on the bedroom door before entering, his eyes immediately landing on the silverette who is distractedly adjusting her skirt.

"I hate to say this," he says evenly as she turns towards him, "but I'm going to have ask you to put on more clothing."

"What? Why?"

"You're off tonight, and we're heading outside. As much as I love that outfit on you, I don't want you freezing."

"O-off?" she stutters, confusion evident in her furrowed brows. She'd never had a day off while the tavern was open since finding Meliodas. Neither had he.

"Yup! Hurry up and put on something warm, it's pretty frigid out there!" he turns to wait downstairs, but she is already calling out for him.

"W-wait! Where are we going?!"

"Don't worry, not very far."

Elizabeth takes a few minutes to get changed, a small amount of time in which the entire staff of his bar managed to yell at Meliodas for abandoning them. He hopes they forgive him tomorrow, and realizes how wonderful of a thought tomorrow has become. As he kept Elizabeth and him together, alone, there would be no way to lose sight of her in the bustling tavern. He'd keep her close, and of course, safe. It didn't hurt to have a moment alone with the beautiful princess either.

Meliodas looks up the stairs when he hears the bedroom door open, Elizabeth in her light blue jacket, a scarf wrapped in multiple loops around her neck.

"Well, staff, we are off! Good luck tonight!" he cheerily calls out as Elizabeth descends the stairs. Diane looks like she is about to send him straight through a wall.

"Elizabeth!" Hawk calls out worriedly, "Are you sure you wanna go with that creep!?"

Elizabeth smiles reassuringly as they open the door and Meliodas takes her hand, tugging her out, "Oh yes! I'll be fine I'm sure! I'm sorry for leaving you all. I-I hope it isn't very busy!"

"With King running the bar?" Ban grumbles, tying a frilly apron around his waist for the night, "I doubt we will have many guests after the first few minutes."

"H-hey!" King says in annoyance, eyes darting all around the bar as if alcohol was a foreign substance to him, "I know how bartending works!"

"Sure, sure," Ban grins toothily, "Between you mixing the ales and Gowther crossdressing, the princess is right. Hoping for a slow night is probably in this place's best interest."

"Yeah, let's all hope for that," King gruffly comments, stress evident on his plump, transformed face as he attempts to memorize the different ales.

"I'm still sad you're both having a fun night without us!" Diane pouts as she looks at between the departing pair.

"Give 'em a break!" Ban laughs, taking a swig of a beer that he always put aside as he worked, "I respect the guy for taking a night off to have fun with the lady. I'd do the same, given the chance." He gives Meliodas a wink, which Meliodas readily returns.

King's mortified face is the last sight Meliodas sees as he closes the door behind them.

The wooden door blocks out the warmth and noise of the bar, and suddenly the pair are left alone in the cold night air.

He turns to the silverette who still looks stunningly confused by the whole situation. "Ready to go?" he asks, and as she nods he sweeps his arms under her, her yelp breaking the quietness of the night as he cradles her. And then he jumps, landing both feet on the roof above them.

"See! Told you'd we be close."

"T-the roof? You took us both off work to go to the roof?" she ponders thoughtfully as he sets her down, still catching her breath.

"Yup!" Meliodas grins, pulling her to sit beside him, "sometimes we need a day off, I think. Even if we aren't going far. It's nice to spend time together, isn't it?"

A small smile tugs at her lips before she lays back, crossing her ankles. "I guess it is nice to have off. It's been a long day, I suppose."

He nods, laying back next to her, inches separating them. "You're right," he faced her, "I liked that part in the beginning though."

"Which part was that?" she nervously whispers, keeping her eyes locked on the sky as a tiny smile adorned her.

He closes the distance, hovering his face over hers, the moonlight accentuating the silver glow of her features. The face he had memorized and adored, his green eyes meeting her blue before his gaze flickered down to her parted lips. This time, he wouldn't be caught off guard. In the past days he had hesitated in furthering their relationship, a mistake he wouldn't make again. Times like these couldn't be taken for granted.

His eyes close as he brushes his lips gently against hers, hearing her take in a sharp breath, and he finds it incredible how the sound wipes his mind clear of much else. His hand cups her cheek, rubbing the warmth of her blushed skin, and kisses her.

The warmth, the softness, the sweetness of her entices him. He knows as soon as he begins, he never wants it to end. The kiss doesn't hit him like an explosion; it burns slowly, like molten lava through his veins. His heartbeats quicken, a heat warming him from the core.

She releases a soft sigh as his lips move against hers, and while at first she is shy and hesitant - this being her first kiss that didn't come out of pure determination and adrenaline - she gets used to the sensation, tilting her head, both hands wrapping around his neck. One tangles into his hair, the other grasping onto his back.

Her mouth opens slightly, and his body doesn't hesitate in responding, taking her soft lower lip between his teeth. A sensuous noise slips from her, and a chill runs through him. All he can think about how much he enjoys kissing her, how he'd wished he'd started doing so the first day she'd walked into his tavern and never stopped. But also how much he wants more. Kissing was a spark that had lit a rapidly consuming flame. His desire for her had always been evident, but only now was it almost suffocating in its strength.

Her tongue shyly traced his mouth, and he pushed his hand from her cheek back into her hair, capturing her face against his. How did every part of her manage to be made of silver and sweetness and silk? Even if her body wasn't perfect - and oh, it was - he would've been overwhelmed with just her gestures and noises, her blushing cheeks and her kind smile. The selfless sacrifices, the way she'd use her body as a shield to protect those who were weaker or even stronger than her.

It was more than an attraction, more than a lust.

After a few more moments of enjoying her, he gently pulls her head back, and her eyes look up at him, clouded and a bit surprised. He smiles down reassuringly, catching his breath. No regrets today: not with her.

"Elizabeth," a long, steadying inhale fills his lungs. The more he stares into the blue of her uncovered eye, the silver of her hair woven around his fingers and strewn against the rooftop, the more unsteady his heartbeats.

"Elizabeth, I love you," he confesses. And it wasn't as hard as he'd thought it be. It felt natural to say, as if he'd known forever. Perhaps he had, and it had just taken him this long to make sure.

She blinks once, and then twice. The blush is slow spreading, simply darkening from the time they'd been kissing. From this close, he can see the goosebumps as they coat her skin; he had a feeling it wasn't from the frigid air. And then, much to his amusement, she nods.

"I know," she says, her voice adoring and soft, "I know you do. Just like you know that I love you."

He did. He had. It had been something known and unspoken. Regardless, the way the words sounded coming off her lips, so easily, made him feel whole. It was as if he had been on an unknowing quest his whole life to hear her say that she loved him.

"Say it again," he whispers firmly.

She giggles, a smile so radiant the her entire being glows, "I love you."

He hopes he never forgets the memory, the image of her in this moment and the sound of her voice as she says she loves him. He hopes he has managed to etch every detail of it somewhere deep in his mind.

oOoOoOo

After a few hours on the roof pass with the princess, talking and whispering and mostly kissing, Meliodas decides it's probably for the best to get them out of the cold. As much as he enjoys holding the princess close and pressing his lips to every part of her face, he knows his body heat can only do so much as the colder parts of the night begin. She hadn't revealed anything on the serious topics, but he decided that the night was going on without the knowledge. He supposed as long as she was here with him, as he had predicted, she'd be safe. Maybe he didn't need to get to the bottom of her secrets.

He stands from his position on the roof, sitting Elizabeth up as well, and decides to check out how things are looking below. Meliodas notes the stragglers from the bar leaving, a sure sign of the end of the night. Would he make it? He wasn't sure how any of this worked. He just knew it was past when they'd made it before. There was no Elizabeth running out of the tavern into the woods late at night and no beams of light slicing them open. He hadn't exactly been overly proactive all day, but he hoped Elizabeth was somehow the key to all this, and keeping her from partaking in her suspicious activities had somehow ended the traumatic cycle.

He looks back over at her now, sat up with her arms around her knees, looking out into the cold. He wished he could hear what she was thinking, wondered if he could be of any help to her.

"Hey," he says softly, and she drags her eyes from the distance to look up at him, "let's go to bed."

"Yes, that sounds good," she responds before a lighthearted smile graces her lips, "do you think they'll still be angry at us in there?"

"Huh, I didn't really think about it," he says genuinely, scratching his cheek, "but maybe we should go through the window, just to make sure!"

"The w-window?" she stammers, and immediately he has her in his arms again as he jumps down a story, her body under one arm and the bedroom window pushed up with another.

He plops her down onto the bed, and she bounces with a frustrated huff. "You must warn me about those things!"

"Sorry, sorry! Next time!"

"You always say next time," she grumbles half-heartedly, heading towards her sleeping garments to get changed. Meliodas smiles at her from behind, grateful for the semblance of normalcy.

As she exits the bathroom in her nightgown, he's quick to remind her, "I guess we will need to get Hawk to help with the ropes, huh?"

She tilts her head to the side, pondering the fact. She brings a hand up to play with the bottom of her silver locks, and he sees her blush through the darkness of the room as her fingers twist, eyes set on the floor. "I suppose… for the night, at least, it'd be unnecessary."

His eyebrows rise, and he feels his own blood rush to his cheeks despite himself. It was as if the bolder she got, the more of a blushing mess, similar to her, he became. Or maybe she was just getting underneath his exterior. The idea simultaneously filled him with fear and adoration.

"If you say so," he grins a bit. His defense mechanism is to make a perverted show of the whole idea, but for some reason, he just doesn't want to. Something about her letting him in is too genuine to spoil. And the day has tired him out.

As they lay down, he leaves her a few inches of room for her own comfort, knowing she has never slept with anyone uncovered with ropes. But after a few moments of quiet, she is closing the space, pressing her face to his chest, a hand against his arm.

"Elizabeth?" he questions, shocked, his heart skipping multiple beats. How many nights has he dreamed of simple actions like this, thinking it would take many more years to get to.

She shushes him, her warm breath fanning against his chest. "It's been a long day, hasn't it?"

He tentatively weaves a hand through her hair, his lips pressing to the top of her head, and it's the most comfortable he's been in years. The feel of her, the beating of her heart pressed against his, her scent; every aspect of her soothes him, and suddenly he is more tired than he's ever been, and his eyes flutter closed against the top her head. Before he drifts to sleep his last thought is he hopes they wake up in this position under the sunlight of the morning.

oOoOoOo

When he wakes up in the middle of the night, perhaps an hour later, the first thing he notices is the moon out the window. The night had not yet passed. Next, he notices the window is open, the cold air rushing inside, billowing the thin curtains in the light winter breeze.

A moment later, as his hand presses against the pillow next to him, he notices that Elizabeth is nowhere to be found.

He sits up so fast his head begins to spin. Air chokes in his throat, the dread washing over him in a wave of darkness in despair. The emotions stick in his chest, burning his insides, nausea churning. He raises a hand to see that it's shaking, and he notices he can barely feel his own body. He checks the clock as it ticks on the wall: a quarter past eleven.

Before he can further note his own dismay, he is out of bed and out the window. His mind briefly rushes to the Sins, how he should tell them, ask them for help, but he doesn't have the time or the words. Every second that passes feels like an hour, and though he knows he is rushing at the speed of light across the clearing, looking for her, shouting for her, he can't help but feel that he is just going too slow.

The air rips through him, the cold burning his lungs and throat, and as the first snowflakes of the night gracefully fall from the sky he is at the lining of the forest he's never entered before. But Elizabeth is nowhere to be found. He remembers the 'night' before, when she had rushed out of the treeline with tears in her eyes.

No time to hesitate, he enters with no fear for himself and nothing but worry for her. None of this was about him anymore. It never had been.

The trees are dark around him, the moonlight fading as soon as he enters the shaded region. His vision hardly has time to adjust to more than the shapes of branches and shrubs, the forest thick and tangled. He continues forward, branches scraping into his skin that his body is too numb to register. Hypotheses and ideas rush to him, trying to figure out where she was, how deep into this place she could have gone, how long she'd been gone, how damn stupid he was to not wake from her missing presence sooner.

As his ankle gets caught on a bushel of thorns, he sees the first sign of something. A glowing light like sunlight in the distance, and he's pushing forward, towards it, hoping and knowing it's a sign. He wonders why he didn't come here sooner, too focused on Elizabeth's well being to think it was necessary. Another mistake on the endless list, a list he only began to understand when it was too late. His temples throb, a familiar darkness in his head that he feels burn his skin as the anger and self-loathing creep through his system.

He follows the source of the light into a small clearing, the only reprieve from the darkness coming from its illumination. As he breaks into the empty area, he notes that the source is large, a powerful and blinding orb nearly four times his size. But he doesn't have time to focus on it more than for a moment, because as he takes in the setting he notices a body lying in the snow-covered grass.

Her body. And he's rushing to her, on his knees beside her. She feels cold, as if she's been simply lying her for an hour in nothing but her now tattered nightgown. Tears stream down his face, and he doesn't know what words he's shouting but he knows that he is begging. His mind grasps onto to the cold; she's so cold, too cold, and how can her skin possibly be so cold when she had just been blushing beneath him hours ago in a place he'd never wished to leave?

He knows his body is in pain, knows something is hurting him, sees his blood freshly drawn and dripping onto her nightgown. He's become intimately familiar with this painful sensation of death overwhelming him. The thought flickers in his mind, but he hardly cares because his hands are still clutching to her.

And as his vision fades, he can only think back to the hours ago when he etched the memory of her saying she loved him into the back of his head to never forget, and how in a moment that time will no longer exist.

And when the snow turns into sheets and the warmth is restored to him, he already knows what the clock will say. But his eyes are too filled with tears to see.

* * *

AN: Hello, me again. Very late, I know. And I'm sorry! I really really am! I hope the fact that this chapter is double normal length somewhat makes up for the fact that I've been procrastinating this update forever. But in better news, I have more of a sense for where I want this story to go. I hope you're enjoying it!

What else? Thank you for your support! Every follow and favorite makes me so happy, I check my email more than I'd care to admit. And reviews! Ahh! Any feedback is super, super appreciated.

I'd like to thank, as always, lickitysplit and woundedowl for dealing with me sending snippets (or perhaps, all 8000+ words) of this doc and making it into something that's not a complete mess. Thanks to them, in addition to BettyBest2, for talking me off the ledge of dumping this thing into the trash can where I sometimes (constantly) think it belongs!


	4. Following After

_Hello everyone! I won't say too much up here, but again I apologize for the very long (a year.. yikes) wait. I hope this chapter and its length mildly make up for it! A quick pre-chapter thanks to everyone who has looked over this in the past year (Bettybest2 and Lickitysplit, as always), and thank you to Vetur02 for her beautiful art that she is gracing me with for the new cover photo, as well as her unending pressure and support on this story which I might have otherwise abandoned!_

 _Chapter 3 review replies:_

 _HuntressXHunter: It was indeed kind of meant to screw over Meliodas haha! I hate to see him suffer, but it's also kind of addicting!_

 _BettyBest2: As your biggest fan every time you compliment my writing I'm clutching my chest and wheezing. I hope you continue to enjoy! Hopefully our young boy can figure some things out soon._

 _CaptainTwiggy0918: These two do need some more honesty! Hopefully they will learn to share their true feelings before they keep messing everything up, but who knows, they are both a bit stubborn! Glad you are theorizing and enjoying :)._

 _Lickitysplit: I am so glad you enjoy though I don't get how with all the hell I put you through every day of your life. I cherish you deeply._

 _MarianaBluBuLuBu: I hope you are beginning to understand, and some things will become more clear over time. If you need specific details cleared up, let me know!_

 _LucyDragneel2009: Interesting theory! But everything will play out :). I'm so glad you are enjoying!_

 _LoveIsNotAChoice: Ahhh I'm so glad you enjoy! I'm sorry for the long update time, but I hope you are still with me! Thank you so much for the praise!_

 _Mon coeur: I'm sorry you feel like that but I hope you are still with me :) and thanks for your eagerness!_

 _Jewlz1420: I'm still here! And still writing more! I'm so glad you are enjoying the ride!_

* * *

Chapter 4:

" _We'll never have to buy adjacent plots of earth_

 _We'll never have to rot together underneath dirt_

 _I'll never have to lose my baby in the crowd_

 _I should be laughing right now"_

In the morning, he's aggravated. The anger settles on him like a second skin, itching and burning. His vision is blurred and in the early dawn, before the first beams of light spew through their window, he can only see the darkness, the red which splotches his vision in frustration, and the silver of Elizabeth's sleeping head beside him.

As soon as he can see, he is already shaking her awake. Not to ask about her dreams; he's given up finding his way out of this madness. Lacking patience and time, he grasps her arm a bit too harshly, fingers digging into her skin as a soft murmur escapes her lips.

Her _lips_. The one's he'd spent hours exploring yesterday or today or a different time that didn't exist or matter any longer. He'd had their first kiss then, and now 'then' was gone. And as his fingers sink deeper into her thin bicep, he thinks of all the aspects that have been undone. Now, she's never been kissed, and never told him she loved him, and never had that love requited in return.

But today, he wasn't feeling very reasonable.

"Lord M-Meliodas?" she murmurs, her voice a soft whine still coated in sleep. He listens to her, a voice that sounded like bells, imprinting the sound into his brain. He'd done this 'yesterday' as well; he'd promised himself he'd remember then and never forget. But being with her now, and all those memories being undone; it was too painful to ponder.

"What's happening?" she asks, the sleep cracking off her voice as she brings a tired hand to her exposed eye, rubbing, laying on her back as she looks up at him "it's still dark out…"

As he leans over her, Meliodas doesn't bother to look at the clock. He only knew that time was passing, and this time he was saying 'to hell' with time itself and curses and repetitions. If this was going to be an endless looping agony, this time he'd do what he wanted.

"Elizabeth," he begins eagerly, his fingers still pressed tightly into her arm, the minimal skin contact his only thread to sanity, "do you love me?"

Her wide blue eye stares frozen at him. Seconds go by that feel like hours as she blinks, and then blinks again, and that's when her mind begins to process. Her cheeks blush pink before flushing nearly maroon, her eyes turning glassy and trembling in her embarrassment.

Meliodas tries to hold back his grin, asking for an answer he already knew. He wishes she had memories of their endless kisses. The urge to press his mouth against her is overwhelming in power.

"I-I…" She stutters, clearly not expecting this to be what she woke up to, "I?"

"You?" he presses.

"I… I just," she begins, taking a deep, shaking breath as the initial shock starts to fade, "of course I love you. I just thought… I thought I would tell you under different circumstances! And I never… you just… asked!" Her words came out in splatters.

"Yes," he's rushing, not at all appreciating her words as he should, not at all doing this like he should be, but he doesn't have the time to waste. He's being wrong and persistent and selfish but he craves to indulge himself in this day, in this limited time. "I love you too, Elizabeth."

Her eyes are wide and she's frozen all over again, but he's continuing before she can respond. "So, knowing I love you, and knowing you love me, please trust me when I say we need to go." His face leans farther over her, the tips of his hair nearly tickling her skin.

She's releases a breath she seems to have been holding, body pressing back into the pillows beneath him. "Go…?" she's confused, shocked, and still recuperating from the rushed confessions.

"Yes, go." He hurries out, his voice a rushed whisper. He wonders how he looks to her right now, his eyes wide and strained, his jaw clenched. He felt himself shaking slightly as he hovered over her.

"Go… go where?"

"Elizabeth," he knows his tone is crazed, that none of this makes sense to her, but the sooner he is far away from here the more at peace he will be. "If I asked you to run away with me, would you? Would you leave this place?"

He holds his breath, trying to understand each of the emotions that flicker through her fluttering blue eyes, her still chest that is again holding in her gasp. The room is silent and still, and if he wasn't so paranoid, he'd swear that the only movement is a ticking hand of the clock.

Moments go by and he figures maybe asking such a thing was too much. He should explain, tell her his worries. He sounded unreasonable and crazed, his hands are quivering and-

"Yes," she breathes, and the warmth of her breath fans across his skin. His eyes blink as he swears he misheard. But her voice is louder than her previous whispers, more steady and sure as she attests, "Yes, I would run away with you. Of course I would."

oOoOoOo

After taking some time to pack a basic bag, with no words exchanged and the pressure of Elizabeth's lingering and confused eyes on him, the pair descend the staircase to the tavern.

"You're both up early?" Merlin comments as they make their way down the stairs. Ban is already heading towards the kitchen to prepare breakfast. "Going somewhere?" she questions, eyebrows furrowing as she stares at the pairs heavy winter clothing.

Elizabeth's breathing stutters as she begins to try to explain, but Meliodas quickly cuts her off. "Yeah, we are heading to town for the day."

"We need ingredients!" Ban eagerly notes, tying the frilly apron around his waist. Meliodas rips his gaze away. He can't handle staring at his best friend right now, knowing he is about to abandon them all.

He wishes he could take everyone, but there wouldn't be enough time for explanations. They'd all begin pestering him, theorizing, disbelieving. Elizabeth was the only one who'd trust him unconditionally. Ban was probably the closest after her and yet… he couldn't risk it.

In an ideal world, one not nearly as cruel as the one he'd lately stepped into, he would protect everyone. However, protecting Elizabeth came first, and perhaps taking her and himself away from here would protect the rest. Meliodas knew Ban would understand; Meliodas would have understood if his friend had done the same for the woman he loved.

"Right…" Meliodas notes, a bit down, "We will pick up some ingredients."

"You better," Ban scowled, "I'm the one keeping this damn place alive, if it wasn't for me you'd all be scarfing down that poison you call food."

Meliodas can't help the small smile that creeps onto his face. This is how things were meant to be: easy, familiar, another day in the Boar's Hat with the near-entirety of the people he cares about.

He hoped he saw them tomorrow, but not today. Not again.

"Are you alright, Captain?" Ban questions, dropping the loud complaints and eyeing his friend with a serious expression. Meliodas meets his questioning gaze, and he sees the Merlin is giving him a similarly skeptical expression.

Meliodas hesitates until he feels Elizabeth's hand slide into his. A glance at her shows her smiling at him reassuringly. He's shocked: even when he hasn't explained his reasoning, his strange behavior, his random outburst from the morning, here she is trying to comfort him. When, before this day, had she begun to know him so completely? Their love had happened so slowly as time had passed by, he hadn't even realized how well she had begun to know him.

"I'm fine, don't stress it," Meliodas offers his most convincing grin, trying to look credible as Elizabeth squeezes his hand. "If that's all, we'll be off!"

His feet move on their own, out the door before anyone can further respond or comment, Elizabeth's hand in his.

Then he is on autopilot, not looking back at her as he walks down the path to town, the familiar cobblestone leaving him nothing but unsettled. Thankfully, she poses no questions, simply following him in silence. She must feel the tension radiating off him. And he _is_ tense now, even more than before. After taking a step from the tavern, his thoughts instantly shifted to a strategic mindset familiar from centuries ago.

He'd once been one of the fiercest generals in the Demon army. When his army had enemies that he didn't know the power or skills of, he'd get information. But when information was unavailable, he'd avoid the enemy until he knew he could destroy them. It was what he'd need to do now.

The town is still as abandoned as always as the pair make their way down the center. He doesn't take any time to observe nor linger the old-fashioned buildings and snow-covered stands. He's trapped between clearly wanting to escape and not having a true place to go in mind. He just wants to be far, far away from here. The familiarity has his nerves throbbing beneath his skin, begging him to get away from the danger. To get _her_ away.

Past the town's limited buildings, in the opposite direction of the tavern, there are frost covered hills are far as the eye can see. Miles of them, from what Meliodas could tell. This could be dangerous; he'd been in too much of a rush to check a map, and towns this far north of the country were few are far between. It could be days of walking, if not weeks. But he chooses to ignore this basic survival tidbit. He could deal with lacking food or shelter; what he couldn't face was that magic, if that was what it was. The magic that literally tore them apart.

The frost crunches beneath his boots as they make their way down a sloping hill. For the first time in the anxious, plentiful minutes that had passed, Elizabeth speaks.

"Lord Meliodas," she slowly begins, her voice gentle and a tad nervous as she deals with his obviously unstable mood, "do you know what's out here?"

"No," he states plainly. No use in lying to her.

"I-" the nervous tone has brought her voice up an octave, "don't you think… well… it's cold, we may need a place to stay. It'll be hard to camp if there is a storm… The weather may not be very pleasant."

"Don't worry too much about that yet," he grins back at her as reassuringly as possible, which isn't very reassuring at all, his eyes too wide and unblinking, his hand in hers still unmistakably twitching since he'd awoken, "just trust me."

Her lips purse in thought and a few more minutes go by of them trekking through the hilly landscape before she suddenly halts their progress, her body stiff and still. He stops as well, his hand stuck in hers. He solemnly notes the way he hadn't held her hand in the loving way he'd imagine they would when they became more intimate; it was just desperate, as he yanked her along, holding her too tightly.

"I do trust you Lord Meliodas, of course I do," she begins, "and now you know that I love you as well, and yet…"

"Yet?" his brows furrow in confusion. His teeth begin to grit as his instincts tell him to keep moving. Why can't she understand that they _need_ to keep moving. Every moment counts. His boots shuffle in the hard snow as he finds himself unable to be still.

"And yet…" she continues, "I wish you'd be more honest with me. It's obvious that something is wrong, that this isn't spontaneous. I wish you could trust me, in return, and tell me. I think I could be of some help to you-"

"Trust you?" Meliodas cuts off, his voice strains as his anger chokes him suddenly. Had he been angry all day? It flowed out of him in sudden, suffocating waves, as if his wrath had been the thing making his skin tremble all along. "Trust me? You don't trust me, Elizabeth. Not like I thought you did."

Her eyes widen in her shock, her mouth gaping as she processes. "I-what? Of course I trust you, Lord Meliodas-" she continues to try to keep calm and stable, but her composure is slipping with her emotions, her hand trembling slightly in his, "I crossed this land to find you, to save the kingdom, to stop the Holy Knights-"

"You have a _secret_ Elizabeth!" his voice rises with every word. He didn't want to yell at her, had never wanted to upset her, but his desperation outweighed his sympathy. "And it's keeping us from being safe! So why can't you trust me with _that!_ "

Her eyes tremble as she removes her hand from his, her face flushed from the cold, the frustration, the embarrassment. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Sure you don't," he grates out, "that's what you said then too."

"Then, when?" she asks, exasperated, "I'm trying to stay calm, to understand, but I _don't_ understand. You're acting unusual, Meliodas. You're not making any sense."

The first time she used his name without an honorific today, he notes, though not at all in the context he wanted.

"Then! Then, yesterday! Today! I don't know!" Where does he even begin?

A particularly harsh wind blows and he sees her body clench and tremble against the cold. He doesn't want to argue with her. He wants to hold her and warm her, to kiss her and love her. To _protect_ her. So why wouldn't she let him.

Her eyes stare at him as if he's extremely ill, as if she is worried for him. As if he's sprouted multiple limbs and she could barely recognize him.

She removes her hand from his, a gust blowing her silver strands around her face as she folds her arms tightly around herself. He sees her take a trembling breath to calm herself. Meliodas attempts to take such a steadying breath as well, but nothing can calm him now; not until he's many more miles away from here.

"Meliodas," she gently presses, giving him a small smile, "please just… talk to me. Let's just take a few minutes here, and we can discuss what's been bothering you. I can help you, I know I can."

"We need to go, Elizabeth," Meliodas shakes his head rapidly, trying to clear the pounding that has once again began, "We can talk about this later."

Her smile instantly falters, her lips pursing. Arms tightening around her thin biceps, she plants her feet firmly in the snow. "I'm not leaving this spot until you talk to me!" she persists, resolution coating her voice.

He could scream. She had always had an unwavering resolve; he had been the one to _help her_ find such a determined spirit for her goals. It was one of her more admirable traits. He loves the way she is selfless, sacrificial, and determined; but right now, he wishes she would just be selfish and want to preserve her own life, that she would just submit to what he was saying without these bold antics.

Her eyebrows are creased, her chest puffed out, and for a moment he remembers Liz with this exact, common expression. And he remembers the terrible way she died, and the terrible way Elizabeth is _going to_ die. The thoughts, haunting and steadfast, attack his consciousness mercilessly. His heart hammers in his chest so painfully and he desperately wants to breakdown.

Her expression falters yet again; maybe it's the look in his eyes, or the way he feels completely shattered and unable to do this anymore. Maybe she sees it all.

"Elizabeth," he breathes, and he feels the sob waiting to burst just beneath his steady voice, "we're going to die, Elizabeth. And I can't let you. I need to protect you. It's all I need to do, so please, just let me. Come with me."

Confusion spread among her features, but she must have seen how genuinely he made the statement. "You and I? Why do you think-"

"You, me, everyone back at the tavern, probably. Who knows. A lot of us, Elizabeth."

"Everyone-" she mutters, "How do you know such a thing? How would that happen? How would-"

"I just _know_ , Elizabeth," he interrupts, not having the time to give answers to all the questions she was about to spew at him. "And I need you to trust me, and to come with me so _somehow_ we can avoid it."

"But-" he can see her thinking deeply about this now, and he has to admire that she isn't at all the mess she could be at hearing such a revelation, "but everyone back at the tavern?"

He shakes his head, "Elizabeth, we can't. It'd take too much time to explain, to convince them all."

"Meliodas, they're our friends. They're your precious friends and allies," she insists, as if he had forgotten. He felt awful, he really did, more than she knew, but he couldn't take the risk.

"Elizabeth, I know it's terrible. But there is a chance they'll be fine, and my primary concern-"

"A chance?!" she cries, disbelievingly, "You don't even seem to know the extent of this danger and you just want to leave people behind to face it? I can't let this happen, Meliodas. Innocent people-"

"Stop with your selflessness for one damn second! You can't protect everyone, Elizabeth. You can't always sacrifice yourself for everyone else! I've tried to come a conclusion about this, to solve this, but we just don't have the time!"

" _We_ need to protect the _people_! Innocent people! Our friends, Meliodas." Tears collect in her eyes, the fear finally taking over her, her unabashed passion for protecting others.

" _I_ need to protect _you_!" he shouts, his voice harsher and louder than he's ever used against her.

"I can't go with you," she cries, her breath a cloud around her face, the tears making frosty lines down her cheeks, "the Meliodas I know wouldn't go against our cause like this. You said you'd protect this kingdom for my sake, protect _people_ for my sake."

"Elizabeth," he grits out, more aggravated than he's ever been with her, "you are not going back there." But she's already turning, making her way up the hill, and his body freezes. He is so much faster than her, so much stronger, why can't he move?

Her hair flings over her shoulder as she turns back to him, and his vision blurs until all he can see is the silver and blue of both her and the winter cold around her. "I'm sorry, Meliodas, but if you loved me as you say you do, you'd know this is what's right." And she's off again, over the hill and out his sight.

He takes a few moments to stare at the nothingness, the wind frigid and biting as the minutes flow. He's losing track of time now as it slips by. He knows he has to go follow her, he knows it. But gathering the energy to walk into the disaster he is sure will follow leaves him on his knees, staring at the snow. He's never felt so weak nor helpless, not since he'd seen her end thousands of years ago. He is so exhausted of seeing her end, of feeling it rip him from the inside.

But he refuses to give up on her. The mere thought of her resenting him right now agonizes him, and he slowly pushes his way back up to his feet. He clears his mind again as he walks forward towards the place he most wanted to avoid, through the town of ice and emptiness, no sign of Elizabeth to be found.

The cobblestone road was ahead of him again, and he wondered if Elizabeth had made it back to the tavern. He wondered what she had said, if she had flown in with a tirade or calmly breached the subject. If she was trying to convince them to go as eagerly as he had tried to convince her, or if she was simply speculating about his warning.

Huffing in the cold air, he was shocked to see it was neither; in the distance he saw Elizabeth, not at the tavern ahead but standing at a familiar treeline where chaos had erupted each time before, simply standing. His palms tremble as he recalls the previous nights in which weapons made of light had flown through those trees, piercing them both. Quickly stepping off the path, he makes his way towards her, stopping a few feet behind her to give her the distance from him that she may need.

After remaining still for a few moments, he realizes she may not have even noted his approach. "Elizabeth…?" he hesitantly questions, "Are you-"

She immediately turns to him, shocked at his presence, and then he notices her expression. She looks as though she's been crying for some time, her face blotched and tear stained, her breathing sniffling through her nose. Before he can halt himself, he's approaching her, his hand stroking her cheek, his earlier frustration completely forgotten. Even his worries of what was going to happen soon were forgotten; all he could focus on in the moment is how devastating she looks when she cries so heart-broken, how his heart clenches at the sight. "Elizabeth, what's wrong?" he gently presses. It's a question that he supposes could have a variety of guessable answers, but it's suspicious how she didn't make it to the tavern, the place she was so eager to help. With unease sinking in his gut he forces each step closer to her, wondering what thoughts had kept her here.

"Meliodas…" her voice quivers in a deeper pain, "this is all my fault, isn't it?"

"Your fault?" he asks, confused, wanting to reassure her right away that she could nearly do no wrong in his eyes, "What's your fault? This? I'm sorry I said you didn't trust me Elizabeth, I shouldn't have yelled, I-"

"N-no, you were right," Elizabeth moaned, wiping her arm across her eyes, "I've been keeping secrets, I just didn't want to bother you with something I knew nothing about. I just wanted to know more and then maybe tell you later. To figure s-something out by myself without bothering you. But m-maybe, now I think, that your suspicion might have to do with me."

He remains silent, though thousands of questions flood his mind. He doesn't know how to comfort her, nor make sense of what she's saying. Is she… confessing to have something to do with this? Why would she be involved in something that ends up killing the both of them? She mustn't have known…

"Elizabeth," he states gently, brushing hair from her face, cupping her cheek, "I need you to look at me, and I need you to help me here. I need you to tell me what you know. I need you to help us, Elizabeth."

Her tears begin to stop, and they both wipe the remaining away. Her voice, however, remains unsteady as she shuffles her boots into the snow, her eyes remaining nervously on the ground. "If I tell you, it'll only make things worse."

"Elizabeth-"

Her words are rushed, flowing from her in a rapid jumble, "It will, Meliodas. You must trust me when I say that. They don't like you, not at all. And if I tell you, they'll be angry and- I'm trying to-"

"Who are they?" he interrupts.

"I'm trying," she continues as if she didn't hear him, "to make them know you as _I_ do. To convince them that they are wrong. And I think, maybe, they'll listen, if I keep visiting-"

"If you're going in _there,"_ he gestured tiredly to the forest besides them, already wary, "I'm going with you. No arguments."

"You can't," she counters simply.

"I can and I absolutely will. I know how this will go. I _know_ it."

"I probably didn't figure it out then, I didn't piece things together-" she insists.

"Piece what together?" He feels the anger bite at him yet again as she insists on doing everything on her own, leaving him to deal with the consequences of their inevitable failures. Why couldn't she just let him help her?

"Please, Meliodas. Please just let me do this," her voice is softer now in her insistence, and he finds it harder and harder to reject her. Two completely opposites parts of himself clash in frustration; one that wants to obey every request and wish she asks of him, at war with the side that knew she obviously had not taken his warning seriously, his insistence that they'd be dead again by this evening if they weren't far from here. "I have to be willing to sacrifice myself for others, Meliodas, I made a promise that I'd-"

"That's not how this works!" he shouts, "I refuse to watch you die again to try and solve this mystery. I don't want to solve it, Elizabeth. I don't care who is out there or what force, I don't even care what you did, I just want to take you and _leave_. We could have _left this behind,_ Elizabeth. We could have been safe. We could have been _away_ from here," he grits, trying to keep composed.

"Melidoas, I-"

"I refuse to watch you die, Elizabeth," he repeats, feeling his nails dig into his palms, controlling a wrath the simmered beneath his flesh.

"Just give me a chance. I think I can do this."

The realization spreads over him that she won't give this up, her chance to protect people, to sacrifice herself for the sake of others. He should have never told her others were at risk. He should have known that others being at risk was the simplest catalyst for her own demise. The lump in his throat begins to pain him.

As contemplation spreads through him, unknowing of how to respond to her begging, her expression softens a shade. "Please, Meliodas," she asks, and hesitates as she tumbles thoughts around in her head, feet shuffling nervously in the snow as she presses her lip between her teeth. "You... you can come with me. We can go together, at least part of the way. But… There is something I really must do on my own." She offers him these words, pleading with her eyes to allow her this chance.

Oxygen expands his lungs in a painful burst, and shakes as he releases the breath, a fogged cloud in the frigid air just as hazed and uncapturable as his thoughts. His fingers clench and unclench against his own hips, aching, the tension prickling his insides. Stress rolls through him in wave he has never quite felt before, and even her gentle blue eyes are only able to keep him somewhat grounded.

Unsurprisingly, he's unable to deny her now, much like he's been unable to deny her since first meeting her. From months and months ago when she first asked him to protect her kingdom and find the Sins, to centuries ago when she asked him to rebel against everything he'd ever known to find peace and create a better world. The wrath bubbles in the pit of his stomach, but it's all directed at himself. For he lacked no strength to destroy any enemy in her path except curses and this apparently inevitable fate. And he particularly lacked the strength to say no to her, in all her brave foolishness that he hated and adored.

"Fine," he sighs dejectedly, with all the finality he couldn't bare to think about further. Wariness coats him, and yet he has no better plan here, much to his chagrin. She's unwilling to go fully with him, and forcing her would fill her with resentment. The chances of saving Elizabeth by carrying her protesting form away from this place were unmeasurable. He wonders when he'd gotten so selfish, not wanting to risk her hating him for the slim chance of her safety.

A small smile adorns her lips; nothing radiant nor excited in her expression. Just gratitude, and the sympathy of knowing that allowing her to walk into danger went against every one of his natural instincts and better judgements.

"Thank you," she whispers softly, "thank you for believing in me, Meliodas." Of course he had always believed in her. The reassurances rested at the top of his throat; he wishes to explain to her that he's never doubted her resolve nor desired to leave her behind, how he just wanted to keep her safe. How she was his entire purpose in life, and the idea of losing that purpose coated him in goosebumps and made his stomach drop. But before he could get out a single word of consolation, she closes the inches between them, gently pressing her lips to the corner of his own.

It was nothing but a chaste gesture, but her eyes linger on his, as if she only now notes their close proximity. Before her mouth even fully leaves his, he turns his face to kiss her fully. Having had this so recently, it wasn't a new taste for him. He instantly refamiliarizes himself with the soft contours of her lips, the addicting sound of the gasp in her throat. His hand brushed along her cheek, feeling for the warmth he knew would adorn her even on this coldest day, letting his fingertips memorize the soft skin right beneath.

All too quickly, she takes a small step back, her cheeks red from her blush, her features tipped pink from the nipping cold.

The images of her clash in his head, his temporary peace quickly giving way to a fear he knows is soon approaching. The blended memories linger behind his eyelids every time he blinks: Elizabeth, beneath him on a roof, their lips joining underneath the snow; Elizabeth, her neck dripping red, melting the icy white beneath her. Her silver hair slayed on their mutual pillow in the morning, the same silver strands whipping around her in the cold as she shouted for him a moment too late.

He is going mad, he's sure of it. Even if she ever made it out of this safely, the images of her death would haunt him. He had once thought Liz was the most haunting, unforgettably tragic memory he possessed. Now it was just one of a recent collection. He should be used to this by now, he thinks with shaking hands and a clenched jaw. He never will be: it's the wound that never shuts.

"Okay," she breathes, more to herself as she takes another step back from him, "Okay!" she repeats, composed, collecting. "Let's go then!" The words are almost enthusiastic. As if it's an adventure, or a date. He swallows the bitterness and it burns down his throat.

He walks along her side, and their eyes meet as they look to the side at each other. Nervously, she takes his hand, fumbling as their fingers interlock. One of them is shaking, or both, he notices.

"Sorry," she blushes deeper, gazing to the ground now. "For everything. I hope this will all be over soon." As they enter the treeline, the terrain thickens and darkens, and she must watch her step, her hand in his gripping for reassurance.

He takes her words too harshly, and instead decides to at least get some questions answers. "I remember you telling me you've been having nightmares."

She stumbles a bit, a branch tangled beneath her foot. "Did I mention that?"

"At one point, yeah."

Her lips purse, brows furrowed in concentration. "I suppose I have."

"What about?" he presses, turned to walk nearly backwards now as he's ready to catch her clumsy figure at any step, his eyes gazing at her light steps.

"I don't know," she says genuinely, "It all comes in waves. But rather awful things. I don't know how I dream up such terribleness if I haven't seen it myself. They say you can only dream so much, that most of it is based on what you know." she pauses, "That's what they used to tell me as a child, at least."

"Maybe we have… similar dreams?" he presses even further, holding back a branch so that she may step through unscathed.

"No…" she grimaces, a fogged breath leaving her lips in a sigh, "I'm not quite myself in my dreams."

His eyebrows furrow farther with that comment, feeling none of her answers were doing anything to answer any of his questions. They only confused him further. "Then who-"

"Shhh" Elizabeth cuts off, pressing a cold finger to his lips, "We should be arriving now, and I don't want to startle anyone."

"Who is anyone?" he whispers against the digit, just a hint of anxiousness seeping through the tone.

Elizabeth pulls him behind a particularly thick three, their proximity nearly pressed against each other as she peaks her head around through the thicket.

The silence is so tense and ominous that he can hear every leaf as it shifts on each branch, can hear the pale pink lip as it slips between her teeth, her hand as it presses against the wood. But he should be able to sense _someone else._ And he doesn't. Besides the radiant energy that pools off of Elizabeth in luminescent waves that he's come to be both simultaneously in awe of while also completely used to, he feels no one.

He notes her hand still holds his wrist from when she pulled him over, and he feels as though it's his only tether to reality. Otherwise, he'd slip away into the haze and the confusion. That is, if he hasn't already.

Her eyes continue their scan, and he peeks through to see what she is observing. Through the branches is a clearing, but in there are only uncontrolled grasses long untouched by the outside world. Everything is the dark green of forest, the brown of the Earth, and the pale ice of frost and winter.

"Elizabeth-"

"I can't see anything. I had thought… but maybe it is a bit early," she ponders, more to herself than to him.

"Elizabeth," he continues, now more tired than anything else, "What is going on?"

She shuffles her feet against the snow once again, fingers splayed against the bark and around his wrist, her thumb pressing against his skin in gentle circles. "Would you believe me if I said there are things that are better for you not to know? For your own sake?"

He almost immediately protests, but with a choke he realizes the hypocrisy of it all. Of how many times he was pressed about the similarities between her and Liz, for his past, for his motives, and he had to brush them off with indifference and groping.

"You're shaking," Elizabeth notes quietly, the pads of her thumb continuing their soothing circles. "Don't be afraid. It'll be over soon."

That line again. The cryptid words that ring in his ears, with a meaning to him that she couldn't understand. The air is colder now as the sun streaks from orange to deep red, and a chill washes through him. He eyes her flushed cheeks, her eyes unwavering in determination, and wonders what happened to the stumbling girl who had wandered into his bar all that time ago. Sure she still physically faltered, but she had blossomed into strength and grace so slowly in front of him that he had to reflect upon it to truly notice an evolution so gradual.

There is hesitation in her eyes as she looks back up at him once again, her hand dropping from his wrist to play with the edge of her jacket. "I should go on my own from here... You should turn back. I'll be home soon."

"No way! I'm waiting for you right here," he immediately insists.

Her eyes plead once again. "Trust in me. Just turn around, and I'll be close behind. I swear it, Meliodas." The warmth of her eyes and the gentleness of her tone, the way his voice sounds so sweet on her lips; all it does it flood his senses with a comfort he shouldn't feel. He hates how weak he is for her almost as much as he loves her.

With a puff of fogged breath he makes his expression passive, turning from her, taking a few steps away, "Fine. Twenty minutes then. If it's anything more than that, I'm coming back."

She sounds a bit nervous with his dismissal, wavering for a moment. He doesn't look at her, only listens to the tremble in her voice. "Y-yes. Thank you." She seems to wait to see him walk away, so he does. He takes long strides out of her view.

But his energy follows her. His ears hone in on each individual step she takes from outside of her tree into the clearing ahead of her. Even from the distance, his attachment to her well being is so strong that he keeps track her movement with sheer willpower.

And when he finds himself nearly halfway back to where he started, he betrays her. Turning on his heels, he retraces his steps right back to her. If she sees him, she'll be angry. She'll feel betrayed, as if he can't keep the promises he made. He turns around anyways.

Even if she hates him for it, even if he is wavering in his faith in her ability to solve this by herself, he can't help it. He needs to know. He needs to see with his own two eyes. So he turns back into the shade of the trees, the barely streaming glimmers of twilight's last breath, the stillness of the cold and the rustling of the leaves. He goes back to her, as he always has.

His hand brushes against the tree she had just stood against, and he recollects the beats of his hearts as they pound against his ribcage. He felt her energy in the distance, pulsing and bright and infinitely attractive as always. The light he had and would forever follow to the ends of the Earth.

He peers around the bark of the wood, the chill of the night nipping at his face. In the far off distant, he can see her, her back to him, partially concealing something behind her, further off. The darkness off the approaching night forces him to squint, and without thinking deeply on it he steps out into the clearing, taking slow steps towards her. She still hasn't moved, deeply focused on whatever is ahead of her.

After a few steps he makes out that she seems to be glowing. At first he believes she herself is illuminating. Only with a few more steps does he realize that the source of light is beyond her. And only with a few _more_ steps does he realize, perspective wise, how much _larger_ than her it was.

He needs to get closer. She is barely the size of half of his finger in the distance, and his sight can hardly make anything out. She seems to be fine, still and uninjured, and for a moment he contemplates whether he needs to approach her at all. But his instincts clash more loudly and more bold than his reasoning. So he hastens his steps, and as she gets closer to his view, just meters from his reach, he finds her name bubbling on his lips.

"Elizabeth," he breathes, and she turns to him, her eyes in a daze. The light behind her, triple or more the size of her, illuminates so blindingly that he wonders how she had just been apparently staring directly into it. Her pupils, out of focus, slowly begin to blink, seemingly seeing him for the first time. But he hates the look that overcomes them. He'd never seen such a betrayed look cross her face, her features shattering in hurt. Time freezes as he sees, her blue eyes glistening, her mouth open and turned down.

And as much as time has seen to freeze for a moment, it rapidly catches up again, as always going too quickly now, as her eyes widen and turn back to the light and yell "Wait!" with such a fear that he trembles as well, though he already expected the worst. Every minute he had expected the worst, but he had craved the to come here anyways. And for a moment he wondered, if he had truly dedicated himself to keeping them alive, him and her and the rest, or if he was so caught up in the mystery of it all that he more desired to know the truth.

And for the first time in the endless loop of nights, he lost the desire to save them. As the light grows and blinds him, the pain hitting him in a way both lethal and familiar, Elizabeth's scream drowning his mind, for the first time in the endless days, he just wants it to end.

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Annnnd that's chapter 4! Again thank you to everyone who put the effort into editing this, and also just told me they were interested enough to inspire me to continue.

I'm not usually one to do this, but if you still are interested in reading this story, I'd really appreciate a review or PM, pretty much anything to give it a thumbs up to continue. It's been a long time since I last updated, so I'm not sure how much interest there is to continue this. Feel free to say something if you hate it as well? I take criticism :). Either way, thanks for reading, and as always your kindness and following means more than I could explain! Thank you!


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